OAN Staff Katherine Mosack and Brooke Mallory
11:49 AM – Wednesday, November 19, 2025
A coalition of six Democrat members of Congress with military or intelligence backgrounds released a 60-second video titled “Don’t Give Up the Ship” on Tuesday — explicitly urging U.S. service members and those in the intelligence community to “refuse illegal orders” from leaders in the Trump administration.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed the video as “Stage 4 TDS” (Trump Derangement Syndrome) on X, and a slew of other political commentators accused the video of encouraging treason. Nonetheless, the lawmakers attempted to frame it as a reminder of military oaths to the Constitution over “unlawful commands.”
Together, they declared that “Americans trust their military, but that trust is at risk” due to what they referred to as perceived pressures. The lawmakers did not name President Trump directly in the video, but the message was widely interpreted and criticized by the administration and Republicans as a direct call to defy Trump’s directives.
The newly released video features appearances from Reps. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), and Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.).
Yet, many Americans — on both sides of the political aisle — are now asking why these Democrat lawmakers appear to be defending foreign drug traffickers whose fentanyl-laced cocaine, heroin, meth, and other drugs have contributed to at least hundreds of thousands of American deaths.
“We know you are under enormous stress and pressure right now, Americans trust their military, but that trust is at risk,” the Democrat lawmakers said. “This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens like us. 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. You can refuse illegal orders…you must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our constitution.”
Since early September, the Trump administration has launched a series of military strikes on vessels in the Caribbean Sea — those suspected of smuggling drugs from countries like Venezuela and Colombia — killing at least 80 people to date.
In response to concerns from Democrat lawmakers about “potential legal liability” for U.S. servicemembers if any strikes are later deemed unlawful, the Department of Justice has issued a memo asserting that personnel cannot be held criminally accountable — labeling the operations as part of an armed conflict with drug cartels.
“Elected Democrats just released a video encouraging members of the military to commit treason and defy orders from Trump and Hegseth,” conservative account Libs of TikTok wrote on X.
Lily Tang Williams, a Republican candidate for the House of Representatives in 2026, wrote, “My opponent Rep. Goodlander is in this video. What specific orders to military are not legal? They should be clear by listing them instead of gas lighting the public, especially the left. Did she say anything about Biden’s auto pen or her husband Jake Sullivan in RussiaGate scam?”
Senator Eric Schmott (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.”
Senate Democrats even wrote a letter in October arguing that military employees are being put into a dangerous position when asked to carry out deadly attacks on suspected cartel drug boats, saying that the U.S. Code of Military Justice “prohibits the premeditated and unlawful killing of a human being.”
Last week, Slotkin also introduced the No Troops in Our Streets Act to “put limits on the Trump Administration’s ability to deploy the National Guard into American communities, while injecting $1 billion in new resources to fight crime.” The measure, if passed, would give “Congress the ability to stop a military deployment at home with a simple majority of votes, at any time.”
“The U.S. military should always remain apolitical and should never be used as a domestic police force on our streets at the whims of a President,” said Slotkin. “I served alongside our military, and I care about the men and women in our uniformed military deeply. This legislation ensures that no president, Democrat or Republican, can turn our soldiers against our citizens by seeking to restore checks and balances in these domestic deployments.”
The recently released video follows a grueling 43-day government shutdown that ended just over a week ago, during which U.S. servicemembers would have gone unpaid if not for President Trump’s directive to the Defense Department to reallocate available funds — including from research, procurement, and other accounts — to cover their paychecks.
Senate Democrats repeatedly blocked efforts to reopen the government, voting 14 times against advancing a House-passed funding bill that would have ended the impasse earlier.
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