The number of ridiculous things the current president has posted on the internet over the years is insane, but this one might take the cake.
If you have not heard, there is a video circling the internet made by two U.S. Senators and four former military officials. According to The New York Times (NYT), in the video, the lawmakers took turns reading a statement in which they cautioned that the “threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home.” Sen. Mark Kelley of Arizona, in the video, said, “Our laws are clear,” and “You can refuse illegal orders.”
This video unsurprisingly got the attention of President Donald Trump very quickly, where he then took his anger out by posting on X (formerly Twitter). The NYT reported Trump made a tweet demanding that lawmakers be punished and that this act was so heinous that it should be punishable by death.
“SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” Trump posted to his social media account. He then shared another person’s post that said, “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!”
People say that it’s time to impeach Trump, and I 100% agree. Government officials should not be threatening one another because they are informing the public of their basic constitutional rights. The fact that this is not the first time Trump has done something like this should speak volumes about who he is and how he wants this country to be run.
The NYT reports that not just one, but six democratic lawmakers disclosed that they are all being investigated by the FBI because of the video. The NYT held a joint interview with four U.S. House members and all the military veterans who took part in the video, and they said, “President Trump is using the F.B.I. as a tool to intimidate and harass members of Congress,” and “No amount of intimidation or harassment will ever stop us from doing our jobs and honoring our Constitution.”
Trump is using departments as a tool to intimidate and harass other government officials who do not agree with him. This is not who the citizens of this country should be represented by. Every American has the right to free speech, and that is one of the many constitutional rights that Trump loves to ignore.
Not only did Trump take to the internet and express his feelings about the video, but he also took those who participated in the video to court. According to the NYT, Jeanine Pirro, leader of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington and a long-standing ally of Trump, allowed prosecutors to “…ask for an indictment of the six members of Congress, all of whom had served in the military or the nation’s spy agencies.”
Fortunately, the indictment by the U.S. Attorney’s Office appears to have failed, cementing the fact that what they all did did not warrant a criminal prosecution. The NYTs reported, “They sought to bring charges against Mr. Kelly, Ms. Slotkin and their four colleagues in the House: Jason Crow, a former Army Ranger; Maggie Goodlander, a former Navy reservist; Chrissy Houlahan, a former Air Force officer; and Chris Deluzio, a Navy veteran.”
These U.S. lawmakers and American heroes did nothing but inform active military members of their constitutional rights. The President and his cabinet like to enact “revenge” plots against those who defy them; that is not the person I want representing the country I live in. That is not the type of government YOU should want representing the country you live in, so I am here to remind you to vote in the midterms. Vote for change.
Arkayde Smith can be contacted at
