Six Democrats urge military members to 'refuse illegal orders' in viral video; Hegseth responds
A group of Democrat lawmakers with military and intelligence backgrounds released a video Tuesday urging service members to "refuse illegal orders," a message conservatives blasted as a call to defy...
By Fox News · Fox News
A group of Democrat lawmakers with military and intelligence backgrounds released a video Tuesday urging service members to "refuse illegal orders," a message conservatives blasted as a call to defy President Donald Trump and his Secretary of War Pete Hegseth . The one-minute video, posted by Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and viewed more than 1.6 million times, features six lawmakers invoking their prior service while telling members of the military and intelligence community that "the threats to our Constitution are coming from right here at home." Slotkin and her colleagues have spent recent weeks introducing legislation to limit President Trump’s ability to deploy National Guard members domestically or launch military action against narcoterrorists without congressional approval. None of that context appears in the video, titled "Don’t Give Up the Ship," which instead frames the appeal as a warning to military members to "stand up for our laws" and "refuse unlawful orders." MILITARY VETERANS IN CONGRESS CLASH OVER GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN AS TROOPS FACE MISSED PAYCHECKS Conservative accounts countered the viral clip, citing military law and interpreting the call to action as an alleged appeal to commit treason against the United States. "Elected Democrats just released a video encouraging members of the military to commit treason and defy orders from Trump and Hegseth," wrote the conservative account Libs of TikTok. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., added: "At the end of the day, they’re mad the American people chose Trump and now they’re calling on the Military and Intelligence Community to intervene. Sounds a little ‘subversive to democracy’-ish." PORTLAND CITY COUNCIL MEMBER CALLS ON NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS TO DEFY DEPLOYMENT ORDERS The Department of War directed Fox News Digital to Hegseth’s response, which simply read, "Stage 4 TDS," referring to " Trump Derangement Syndrome ." Slotkin’s "No Troops in Our Streets Act," detailed in a Nov. 13 release , would give Congress t…