(Dobbs) "There is nothing more un-American than that.”
In the classic shell game that these guys play, something, somehow, exempts Hegseth and Trump from accountability.
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As if the Defense Department doesn’t have enough to do, now that we are taking on the potential perils of sending in American officials to run Venezuela’s government and American companies to run its oil industry, the defense secretary yesterday threw a new bomb into the fire: he is taking formal action to punish a genuine American hero— a former Navy combat pilot, an astronaut who logged more than 50 days in space piloting and commanding four space shuttle missions, and now a United States senator.
But to Secretary Pete Hegseth, those proud achievements count for nothing. He posted this yesterday morning on X: “In response to Senator Mark Kelly’s seditious statements — and his pattern of reckless misconduct — the Department of War is taking administrative action against Captain Mark E. Kelly.”
This is so rich, coming from a Cabinet secretary who was accused of abusive and threatening behavior, of drunkenness in uniform, and of sexual assault, an official who literally defined “recklessness” last year when sent out battle plans against Yemen from his personal phone on a store-bought app. But the Pentagon is going to punish Kelly, a man who has proven his patriotism all his life, for his “pattern of reckless misconduct.”
It all stems from this video that went viral in November, in which Senator Kelly played a part.
It features the senator along with five other members of Congress— all veterans of America’s armed forces or intelligence services, and all Democrats. Their message to the military was, “You must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.” The video was produced as the Trump regime’s extra-judicial and arguably illegal fatal attacks on small boats off South America was ramping up.
At the time, President Trump called for these members of Congress to be “arrested and put on trial,” accusing them of “seditious behavior, punishable by death.” How incongruous. All six, who served with honor, have devoted most of their lives to our country. Donald Trump, whose dubious bone spurs got him out of serving at all, devoted most of his to his own wealth. Then he reposted someone else’s message on his website, complete with a Nazi Iron Cross, that said, “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!”
And now Hegseth is taking the first step on Trump’s deranged indictment. He has issued a letter of censure against Kelly— the one member of the “seditious” six who is still subject to military discipline— and has begun proceedings to reduce Kelly’s retirement rank, which would reduce his pay in retirement.
For the record, this is what these small and petty men call seditious: “Like us,” the six members of Congress said in the video, “you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution, right now. The threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad but from right here at home. Our laws are clear.”
The laws they refer to are the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which says that while our armed forces are required to follow lawful orders whether they agree with them or not, they also have the right, and indeed are required, not to follow “manifestly unlawful orders,” because their oath is to the Constitution, not to the president. They have that right, they have that duty.
“Our laws are clear,” Kelly says in the video. “You can refuse illegal orders.”
But in the eyes of Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth, calling for adherence to the Uniform Code, calling for adherence to the Constitution, is sedition.
Or at least it is now. Kelly’s office came up with this little gem from a speech about the military that Hegseth gave ten years ago to the Liberty Forum of Silicon Valley as he was building his exposure on Fox News: “If you’re doing something that is just completely unlawful and ruthless, then there is a consequence for that. That’s why the military said it won’t follow unlawful orders from their commander in chief.”
That was then. This is now.
Mark Kelly won’t suffer. He can afford the loss of pay and his accomplishments can outlive a letter of censure.
What’s more, after Hegseth posted his screed on X, Mark Kelly shot back.
“Pete Hegseth wants to send the message to every single retired servicemember,” he said, “that if they say something he or Donald Trump doesn’t like, they will come after them the same way…. There is nothing more un-American than that.”
But even if Kelly doesn’t suffer, we all suffer, because it’s yet another case where this administration doesn’t care about doing what’s right and decent, they only care about exercising power and revenge.Leave a comment
Hegseth wrote yesterday, “Captain Kelly’s status as a sitting United States senator does not exempt him from accountability.” Yet in the corrupt shell game that these guys play, something, somehow, exempts Hegseth and Trump.