President Donald Trump appeared to call for the imprisonment and possible death penalty for Democratic lawmakers who urged members of the military to disobey unlawful orders related to the airstrikes on suspected drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean.
In a post on Truth Social, the president posted a Washington Examiner article about a video six Democrats posted in which they made their comments.
“This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country,” Trump wrote. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???”
In a follow-up post, Trump wrote, “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”
The Washington Examiner published a report about the video and background.
A half-dozen Democratic veterans in Congress released a joint video urging U.S. service members to disobey unlawful orders, though they did not specify what those would be.
Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Reps. Jason Crow (D-CO), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), Chris Deluzio (D-PA), and Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) said the “threats to our Constitution” are coming “from right here at home.” They repeatedly urged military and intelligence personnel to “refuse illegal orders.”
None of the Democrats in the video specified what illegal orders they should be concerned about or what to do if they believe they are given one.
“We are standing by our troops, our service members who are often put in very difficult positions and Donald Trump has put them in very difficult positions and has alluded to putting them in even more difficult positions in the months and years ahead, so we are reminding folks about what the uniform code of military justice says, what the Constitution says, what the law of war says,” Crow said on Fox News on Wednesday afternoon.
He cited President Donald Trump’s musings during his first term about whether service members could shoot U.S. protesters in the leg, his more recent decisions to send the National Guard into several U.S. cities to crack down on illegal activities, and possibly sending U.S. troops to election polling stations.
“Donald Trump has made a series of very disturbing comments and suggestions that would violate U.S. law and put our military in a terrible position,” Crow, a former Army ranger, added. “I don’t want to wait until that happens to remind our troops of this obligation because then it will be too late.”
Six Democratic veteran lawmakers released a joint video opposing the Trump administration, urging U.S. military personnel to refuse “unlawful orders,” without specifying. pic.twitter.com/hgxmL74hq6
— Geopoliti𝕏 Monitor (@GeopolitixM) November 20, 2025
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded to the video by saying the lawmakers were suffering from “Stage 4 TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome).”
Stage 4 TDS. https://t.co/HScieod06n
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) November 18, 2025
The Washington Examiner noted that the Justice Department found that soldiers who participated in the airstrikes would not be subject to prosecution.
Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, service members are only obligated to obey lawful orders. Indeed, following an order that is blatantly illegal can be a crime. However, it has not yet been established that the airstrikes violate the law.
Military lawyers and legal experts have raised concerns about the legality of the military operations in the Caribbean. The White House is reportedly gearing up for more extensive strikes — including land targets in Venezuela targeting drug cartels.
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