When President Trump took to social media to accuse a select group of Democrats of sedition and treason, suggesting harsh penalties for such offenses, it was inevitable that the media would seize on his words.
The focus, however, was not on whether these Democrats might actually be committing seditious acts.
Instead, the media’s attention drifted elsewhere, a typical maneuver that fuels speculation about their partisan leanings. Their reaction was anything but unexpected.
In an interesting twist, House Speaker Mike Johnson offered a partial defense of the President’s comments, suggesting that Trump was merely defining the terms while accusing Democrats of behaving in a “wildly inappropriate” manner.
To provide some context, Bob Hoge from RedState highlighted a video where a group of Democratic lawmakers encouraged military personnel and intelligence agents to disregard orders they considered unlawful.
READ MORE: Dem Lawmakers Urge Military, Intelligence Personnel to Defy Authority in Not-at-All Subtle Video
The American people need you to stand up for our laws and our Constitution.
Don’t give up the ship. pic.twitter.com/N8lW0EpQ7r
— Sen. Elissa Slotkin (@SenatorSlotkin) November 18, 2025
READ MORE: Dem Lawmakers Urge Military, Intelligence Personnel to Defy Authority in Not-at-All Subtle Video
Karoline Leavitt Drops Mic on Dems Calling on Troops to Defy Orders
Their phrasing in the video is very deliberate. They make no mention of President Trump, but they surely reference “this administration.”
They do not spell out which orders they are referencing, but make mention of those which are “pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens.” Not subtle by any measure. They are calling for service members sent to enforce immigration laws and clean up crime in blue cities to defy their orders.
They are likely also referencing orders to incinerate narco-terrorists and their drug-running boats, defensive maneuvers to protect Americans as ordered by the President and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
The defense Democrats have mounted is that they explicitly refer to “illegal orders.” The problem is, they’re encouraging service members to personally interpret the orders as illegal. There is a vast difference between manifestly or patently illegal orders and those whose illegality is debatable, contested, or requires legal interpretation. The latter of which, refusing to obey an order one feels personally questionable, is itself illegal.
As they were not subtle, Trump, who is rarely shy about expressing his feelings, fired back on Truth Social. He referred to the actions of those involved—Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Reps. Chris Deluzio (PA-17), Chrissy Houlahan (PA-6), Maggie Goodlander (NH-2), and Jason Crow (CO-6)—as “seditious behavior punishable by death.”
Sensing an opening to create a rift, reporters sought Johnson’s thoughts on the matter. He didn’t waver, noting that the calls for sedition are the real problem here, not somebody who points it out when they see it.
“What I read was he was defining the crime of sedition,” Johnson said. “That is a factual statement. But obviously, attorneys have to parse the language and determine all that.”
He handled it well. The Speaker then tore into the Democrats for their behavior, saying it was a “wildly inappropriate thing for so-called leaders in Congress to do to encourage young troops to disobey orders.”
Speaker Mike Johnson didn’t mince words:
It’s “wildly inappropriate” for any member of Congress to encourage U.S. troops to ignore orders.
He said the comments made were essentially a definition of sedition — and while lawyers will debate the wording, the principle is clear.… pic.twitter.com/FjidQJEUtB
— America First Alerts (@AFNewsAlerts) November 21, 2025
Johnson wasn’t finished.
“For a senator like Mark Kelly or any member of the House or Senate to behave in that kind of talk is to me so just beyond the pale,” he said before concluding, “I’m not going to say anything more on it.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday made similar remarks, absolutely torching the media for keeping their eyes on Trump even as Democrats actively call for the military to rise up and defy him.
.@PressSec COOKS Fake News reporter: “Why aren’t you talking about what these members of Congress are doing to encourage and incite violence?… They’re suggesting, Nancy, that @POTUS has given illegal orders, which he has NOT.” pic.twitter.com/yhCMnUuvIV
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) November 20, 2025
“Why aren’t you talking about what these members of Congress are doing to encourage and incite violence?” Leavitt demanded to know.
“They’re suggesting, Nancy, that the president has given illegal orders, which he has not,” she added. “Every single order that is given to the U.S. military by this Commander in Chief and through this chain of command, through the Secretary of War, is lawful, and the courts have proven that.”
Why aren’t they talking about it? They’re Trump obsession forbids them from doing so. And they, without a doubt, would love to see members of the military rise up and defy the Commander-in-Chief’s orders.
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