Don’t Give Up the Ship

The Situation

On November 19, 2025, a distinguished group of six congressmen and women published a video titled “Don’t Give Up the Ship” reminding current service members that they are not obligated to follow illegal orders and are in fact obligated to refuse them (Mallon, 2025). The video is available online (Schwartz I., 2025).

“The video includes Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), a former Central Intelligence Agency agent; Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a [retired] Navy captain, Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), a former Naval officer; Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-PA), a former Naval officer, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), a former Air Force officer; and Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), a former Army officer” (Mallon, 2025).

From the video: “You can refuse illegal orders. You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or the constitution” (Sarxiv, 2025).

President Trump’s condemnation of the senators and representatives was strong, calling them “seditious” in a series of published statements, and remarking that sedition is “punishable by death” (Trump, 2025)(Loria, 2025). The president called them traitors and called for their arrest, saying that an “example MUST BE SET” (Schwartz B., 2025)

(Trump, 2025)
(Trump, 2025)

Senator Mark Kelly. (Photo: John Klemmer, United States Senate Photographic Studio)

President Donald Trump is greeted by Secretary Pete Hegseth at a gathering of U.S. military commanders at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in Quantico, Va. (Photo: Associated Press Photo by Evan Vucci)

Although the lawmakers involved report being targeted for investigation (Wang, 2026), the condemnation seems to have centered on retired Navy Captain Mark Kelly, senator from Arizona, who participated in making the video in question.

This may be because, due to his retirement status, the administration, including President Trump and Secretary Pete Hegseth, may have some leverage against him.

And indeed, in January of 2026, Secretary Hegseth has published an official censure against Sen. Kelly and indicated that he intends to seek punitive measures designed to strip Sen. Kelly of rank and retirement pay, which is tied to rank (Toropin, 2026).

Sen. Kelly has taken steps to protect himself against the administration’s retribution, filing suit against Secretary Hegseth and asking that any punitive measures, including the censure letter, be declared “unlawful and unconstitutional.” In a published statement, Sen. Kelly spoke against Secretary Hegseth and underlined his duty to hold administrations accountable (Altman-Devilbiss, 2026).

Senator Kelly: “Pete Hegseth is coming after what I earned through my twenty-five years of military service, in violation of my rights as an American, as a retired veteran, and as a United States Senator whose job is to hold him—and this or any administration—accountable” (Altman-Devilbiss, 2026).

The outcome at this point is uncertain, but the goal of President Trump’s policies seems to be to quash statements that can be interpreted as being against his positions. And the statements and actions made against these congressmen and women, and against Sen. Kelly in particular, seem to bear that out. The message is: Don’t challenge President Trump.

The Disagreement

Firstly, I agree that the statements in the video could be construed to be against President Trump and his positions, and that the video was not produced in support of the President.

However, I disagree with President Trump that the video is “seditious.” In my opinion, behavior must be directed against the country, not just the opinions of its president, to qualify as sedition. What the lawmakers say in the video isn’t even close to being seditious (Loria, 2025).

I disagree with President Trump that sedition, if it were actually found, would be punishable by death. Sedition carries a penalty of a fine and jail time upon conviction and sentencing (Loria, 2025). Additionally, I disagree with President Trump calling for death to sitting lawmakers, an action that might lead to their coming to harm from conservative vigilantes.

I disagree with President Trump that the lawmakers’ actions were illegal at all: They were (perhaps disrespectfully) restating the law, which is that all members of the military have not only the right to refuse an unlawful order (UCMJLaw, 2024), but the duty to do so (Carpenter, 2025). Service members swear an oath to the constitution, but not specifically to the president or any other particular government official (Schwartz B, 2025). All involved must follow the law, even if their opinion may differ.

I disagree with President Trump targeting the lawmakers for investigation and penalties for having done, essentially, nothing more than exercising their free speech and civic duty as they see it, against his wishes. According to President Trump himself in January of 2025, “the immense power of the state” should not “be weaponized to persecute political opponents” (Staton, 2026). May it be so.

I disagree with President Trump and his administration specifically targeting retired Navy Captain, former astronaut, current Senator (Kelly.Senate.Gov), and all-around American hero Mark Kelly. Even though leverage for punitive actions may be present, I believe that the power of the state shouldn’t be weaponized against a political opponent. Rather, political opponents–like everyone else–should be afforded broad freedom of expression, as I have written previously (Staton, 2026).

Desired Resolution

I encourage President Trump to use the power and authority of his office to vigorously protect freedom of expression wherever necessary, and that he stop those in our government from actions against the lawmakers in the video, to work with his opponents to make the United States of America a beacon of freedom for the world; to teach the nations through strong, compassionate leadership how freedom should look.

May God bless President Trump and the United States of America.

References

Mallon, Elaine. “Ex-CIA, Navy lawmakers urge troops to reject ‘illegal orders’ from Trump administration.” 11/19/2025. https://thenationaldesk.com/news/americas-news-now/ex-cia-navy-lawmakers-urge-troops-to-reject-illegal-orders-from-trump-administration-elissa-slotkin-mark-kelly-stephen-miller-pete-hegseth – Accessed 1/12/2026.

Schwartz, Ian. “Democratic Senators And House Members Release Video Encouraging Military To ‘Refuse Illegal Orders’ From Trump.” 11/18/2025. https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/11/19/democratic_senators_and_house_members_release_video_encouraging_military_to_refuse_illegal_orders_from_trump.html – Accessed 1/14/2026.

Sarxiv. “Transcript: Don’t Give Up the Ship.” 11/18/2025. https://sarxiv.org/ref.2025-11-18.pdf – Accessed 1/12/2026.

Trump, Donald. “Seditious.” 11/20/2025. https://trumpstruth.org/statuses/33910 – Accessed 1/12/2026.

Trump, Donald. “Punishable by Death.” 11/20/2025. https://trumpstruth.org/statuses/33937 – Accessed 1/12/2026.

Loria, Michael. “‘Punishable by death’: Trump decries Dems as seditionists. What does he mean?” 11/20/2025. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/11/20/sedition-death-trump-democrats/87379339007/ – Accessed 1/12/2026. “The president accused a group of Democrats of “seditious behavior, punishable by death.” The six Congress members urged troops to refuse unlawful orders.”

Schwartz, Brian and Natalie Andrews. “Trump Calls for Arrest of Democrats Who Urged Troops to Disobey Illegal Orders.” 11/20/2025. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-calls-for-arrest-of-democrats-who-urged-troops-to-disobey-illegal-orders/ar-AA1QPkWT – Accessed 1/13/2026.

Klemmer, John. “United States Senate Photographic Studio – Public Domain.” 2/8/2021. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=118629051 – Accessed 1/13/2026.

Associated Press. “Evan Vucci.” No Date. https://apnews.com/author/evan-vucci?q=President+Trump+Secretary+Hegseth – Accessed 1/13/2026.

Wang, Amy B. “Democratic lawmakers say they’re under investigation for military orders video.” 1/14/2026. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/01/14/slotkin-democratic-lawmakers-investigation-military-video/ – Accessed 1/15/2026.

Toropin, Konstantin, Ben Finley and Meg Kinnard. “Hegseth censures Sen. Kelly after warning about following illegal orders.” 1/5/2026. https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2026-01-05/hegseth-censures-sen-kelly-after-warning-about-following-illegal-orders – Accessed 1/12/2026.

Altman-Devilbiss, Alexx. “Sen. Mark Kelly sues Hegseth over attempts to punish him for ‘illegal orders’ video.” 1/12/2026. https://thenationaldesk.com/news/americas-news-now/retired-veteran-arizona-senator-mark-kelly-sues-defense-secretary-pete-hegseth-over-attempts-to-punish-him-for-illegal-orders-video-pentagon-free-speech-censured-demotion – Accessed 1/12/2026. Has quotes from/link to kelly’s X post announcing his lawsuit and reasons for same.

UCMJLaw.com. “Disobey a superior officer: defenses to UCMJ Article 90 and UCMJ Article 92”. 11/20/2024. https://www.ucmjlaw.com/disobey-a-superior-officer/ – Accessed 1/13/2026.

Carpenter, Charli and Geraldine Santoso. “4 Out of 5 US Troops Surveyed Understand the Duty to Disobey Illegal Orders.” 8/13/2025. https://www.military.com/daily-news/opinions/2025/08/13/4-out-of-5-us-troops-surveyed-understand-duty-disobey-illegal-orders.html – Accessed 1/13/2026.

Staton, Benjamin. “Freedom of Expression Under President Trump.” 1/1/2026. https://sgtstaton.com/2026/01/01/freedom-of-expression-under-president-trump/ – Accessed 1/15/2026.

Kelly.Senate.Gov. “About Mark.” No Date. https://www.kelly.senate.gov/about/ – Accessed 1/15/2026.