OAN Staff Blake Wolf
10:24 AM – Thursday, November 20, 2025
In a Thursday post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump branded six Democrat lawmakers as “traitors” for releasing a video on Tuesday that seemingly urged the U.S. military and intelligence community to defy orders from his administration.
He demanded that the Democrats be “ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL.”
The video in question featured Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and Representatives Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.), Chris Deluzio (D-Penn.) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Penn.).
The six lawmakers jointly released a video urging U.S. service members to “refuse illegal orders,” following the administration’s ongoing airstrikes on suspected cartel vessels in the Caribbean.
“It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL,” Trump wrote. “Their words cannot be allowed to stand – We won’t have a Country anymore!!! An example MUST BE SET. President DJT.”
“This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???”
“SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” Trump added in a string of Truth Social posts.
The lawmakers begin the video, which is titled “Don’t Give Up the Ship,” by highlighting their background in the intelligence and military community, before urging U.S. service members to “refuse unlawful orders” and “stand up for our laws.”
“This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens,” the lawmakers argued in the video.
“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,” they continued. “You must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.”
While the Democrats do not specify which orders they are addressing, per se, Slotkin and her Democrat colleagues have since introduced legislation specifically aimed at limiting President Trump’s authority to deploy the National Guard or order military strikes on vessels suspected of carrying illicit narcotics without congressional approval.
War 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.
In a Wednesday Fox News appearance, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche similarly slammed the lawmakers’ conduct as “abhorrent.”
“You had members of Congress, members of the Senate, encouraging members of our military and members of our intelligence committee community to go and defy orders. And by the way, there is nothing illegal about what we are doing. … And this is abhorrent conduct,” Blanche stated.
“What is the reason for saying what they said, except for to encourage members of our military, to encourage members of our intelligence community to defy a direct command from their superior, and that is wrong,” he added.
In response to the backlash, Slotkin shot back by arguing that Republicans are “trying to wield fear to get us to stop talking about this issue.”
“A lot of people got upset about the video, and let me just say, they are trying to wield fear to get us to stop talking about this issue. They don’t want to be talking about the deployment of the military in our streets, the deployment of federal law enforcement in our streets,” she stated.
“They don’t want to have that public conversation, because they know it goes to the heart of who we are as Americans, as a democracy,” Slotkin added, calling on War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Nome to appear for a public hearing on the matter.
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