Trump’s threats against Dems show he is unfit to lead

The news that came from across the Potomac on Monday was shocking the Pentagon had launched an assessment into Mark Kelly a combat veteran and Democratic senator from Arizona after supposedly receiving serious statements of misconduct Kelly was unfazed If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable it won t work he responded on social media I ve given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies who care more about their own power than protecting the Constitution Last week the senator a prominent Trump critic appeared with five other Democratic lawmakers in a video in which they reminded military members of their duty to disobey illegal orders This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence public professionals against American citizens they declared Like us you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution Right now the threats coming to our Constitution aren t just coming from abroad but from right here at home Our laws are clear You can refuse illegal orders You must refuse illegal orders No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution The group which besides Kelly included Sen Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Reps Jason Crow of Colorado Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania are all military veterans and former intelligence personnel The reminder came against the backdrop of widespread concerns that the Pentagon s strikes against boats they have alleged are carrying drugs violate the rules of war The senators were well within their legal rights to make this declaration and they had a moral duty to do so The Uniform Code of Military Justice UCMJ governs the conduct of every person in the U S military and applies equally to all ranks and branches whether in combat or not The senators were well within their legal rights to make this comment and they had a moral duty to do so The Uniform Code of Military Justice UCMJ governs the conduct of every person in the U S military and applies equally to all ranks and branches whether in combat or not All institution members are taught and expected to understand the UCMJ s core principles Ignorantia juris non excusat or Ignorance of the law is not a legal defense in the U S military Under Art of the UCMJ members have a duty to obey all lawful commands and they have a parallel duty to disobey all unlawful commands Obeying a manifestly illegal order like an order to target civilians can expose a amenity member to criminal liability The duty to disobey manifestly illegal orders is a cornerstone of international law with foundations in Nazi atrocities-related post-World War II trials like Nuremberg Orders of such nature that their unlawfulness is clear and obvious such as an order to target unarmed civilians are considered manifestly illegal But as the video circulated across social media and cable news Donald Trump became unglued unleashing a series of posts confirming that he is a danger to all Americans and unfit to lead the military Trump posted on Truth Social It s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL Their words cannot be allowed to stand We won t have a Country anymore An example MUST BE SET SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR punishable by DEATH he added in a later post Eliciting stochastic violence Trump then reposted other posts calling the lawmakers traitors and domestic terrorist Democrats and another reading HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD Related Trump has free rein to kill courtesy of the Justice Department On Friday at least three of the lawmakers Crow Deluzio and Houlahan mentioned they had informed U S Capitol Police and filed complaints in response to the president s threats Speaking Sunday on ABC s This Week Slotkin stated host Martha Raddatz that she and her colleagues were facing threats I think almost directly you know the measure situation changed for all of us The Michigan senator characterized Trump s behavior as a diversion tactic He s trying to get us to shut up because he doesn t want to be talking about this In fact I would argue that one of the things that he s been doing by repeating it and talking about it is trying to distract us from the big stories of last week which were the Jeffrey Epstein files and then the business activity Trump has since denied he was threatening death but mentioned the group were in serious trouble The president though is the one who should be in hot water Along with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth he is issuing manifestly illegal orders to murder civilians The pair have ordered the summary execution of at least people so far in suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Pacific Trump and Hegseth have called these targets narco-terrorists because they think that means they can treat them as enemy combatants in a war that does not exist It doesn t Even if the casualties were narco-terrorists for which Trump has provided zero evidence at worst they are citizen criminals entitled to interdiction and legal process under U S and international law No country has the right to execute non-combatant civilians unless faced with imminent threat otherwise unhinged leaders could shoot people for sport which Trump s snuff videos of the strikes are chillingly starting to resemble Want more sharp takes on politics Sign up for our free newsletter Standing Room Only written by Amanda Marcotte now also a weekly show on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts The widespread international condemnation of the president s campaign is growing along with a global chorus accusing him of murder that would be louder if Trump weren t threatening foreign arrangement like a mob boss Formerly strong U S allies including the UK Colombia and the Netherlands have either refused or suspended intelligence sharing with the U S because of the illegal strikes Military encouragement groups are starting to talk in earnest offering counseling and advice on what to do when faced with illegal order situations Trump s orders add to the well of evidence that he is unfit to lead and is a metastasizing threat to the U S citizenry Since returning to office in January the president has used the military for domestic law enforcement which has long been illegal under federal law openly turned the Justice Department into a lawless political weapon sent armed masked and insufficiently trained federal agents to attack people in their beds at schools and churches and on the sidewalks and permitted his closest advisers to publicly encourage excessive brutality as his war secretary praises lethality unconstrained by the laws of combat But that s not all Trump has advanced violence toward the media including last week he appeared to excuse the dismemberment of a journalist on the orders of according to U S intelligence of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who was feted with an Oval Office visit and lavish dinner The president has officially declared groups who oppose him politically to be domestic terrorists in clear violation of the First Amendment and his administration has been caught lying about peaceful protesters threatening Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in order to justify brutality At the same time he has been violating the rule of law at home and transforming the nation into an occupied military zone Trump s national prevention blunders have seriously increased the jeopardy of harm from outside forces Particular of these include Sharing a plan of attack through unsecured sources posting juvenile social media rants that gave Iran advance notice to move their enriched uranium accidently declaring part of Mexico as U S territory now under American command alienating NATO demoralizing Ukraine and supporting Putin s murderous regime in Russia claiming success in Gaza even as both Israel and Hamas continue fighting and the bulk in recent months selling fighter jets to Saudi Arabia despite national measure warnings We need your help to stay independent Subscribe in the current era to backing Salon s progressive journalism These cumulative blunders suggest that the president doesn t care about long-term or even short-term risks to national safeguard Trump s plans to sell F- fighter jets to Saudi Arabia ignores consistent warnings from national safety executives that doing so would put the American military s advanced mechanism at threat of theft from China He either doesn t care or he lacks the cognitive threshold to understand that Riyadh and Beijing have a formal safety partnership No matter The Saudis he reported reporters in the Oval Office want to buy them they ve been a great ally These facts trigger a duty to act regardless of politics Federal personnel including the president s Cabinet and members of Congress all swore an oath to follow the Constitution and protect the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic Legal tools within their reach include impeachment and removal congressional oversight and the power of the purse and the th Amendment With America in danger this should not be a partisan issue Federal officers complicity and failure to act is now a dereliction of duty in deference to a man whose cognition is in question who still has access to the nuclear codes Read more about this topic Donald Trump doesn t understand the drug war he s fighting In Latin America Trump signals war in all but name Little Marco goes big MAGA with his eyes on the White House The post Trump s threats against Dems show he is unfit to lead appeared first on Salon com