Letters from an American - November 20, 2025

Episode Date: November 22, 2025

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November 20, 2025, Trump spent this morning calling a group of military veterans in Congress traitors and saying they should be arrested and put on trial. Their crime in Trump's eyes was their release Tuesday of a video reminding military and intelligence officers that they must refuse illegal orders. The video features Senator Alyssa Slotkin, a Democrat of Michigan, Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat of Arizona, and representatives Chris Deluzio, a Democrat of Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander, a Democrat of New Hampshire, Chrissy Houlihan, a Democrat of Pennsylvania,

and Jason Crow, a Democrat of Colorado. Slotkin is a former Central Intelligence Agency or CIA officer. Kelly was a captain in the U.S. Navy. Delusio served in the U.S. Navy. Goodlander is a former intelligence officer. Hulahan served in the Air Force. Crowe is a former paratrooper and army ranger. Speaking in turns in the video, the lawmakers say, we want to speak directly to members of the military and the intelligence community who take risks each day to keep Americans safe. We know you are under enormous stress and pressure right now. Americans trust their military, but that trust is at risk.

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. We know this is hard and that it's a difficult time to be a public servant. But whether you're serving in the CIA, the Army, our Navy, the Air Force, your vigilance is critical. Know that

we have your back because now, more than ever, the American people need you. We need you to stand up for our laws, our Constitution, and who we are as Americans. They end with the famous line delivered by Captain James Lawrence, who commanded USS Chesapeake in 1813 when it engaged in a naval battle with HMS Shannon during the War of 1812. In the battle, Lawrence was mortally wounded. As his men carried him below, he ordered, don't give up the ship. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller promptly posted on social media, Democrat lawmakers are now openly calling for insurrection. But Trump did not appear to notice the video yesterday when he was entertaining Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman al-Soud, known as MBS, at the White House. But something

it called its attention to it by last night. Perhaps Crow's appearance on Martha McCallum's Fox News Channel show last night in which his advocacy for the military appeared to throw her off balance. Trump reposted comments from a Washington Examiner article about the video that called for the lawmakers to be arrested, thrown out of their offices, frog marched out of their homes at 3 a.m. with Fox News cameras filming the whole thing and charged with sedition. He reposted, insurrection, treason, and a message from a user who wrote, Hang them, George Washington would. At 908 this morning, Trump posted, it's called seditious behavior at the highest level.

Each one of these traitors to our country should be arrested and put on trial. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. We won't have a country anymore. An example must be set, President D.J.T. At 917, he reposted the Washington Examiner article with the note, this is really bad and dangerous to our country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. Seditious behavior from traitors.

Lock them up? President DJT. At 1021, he posted, seditious behavior, punishable by death. And so, an American president called for the arrest. and execution of elected lawmakers. Restating the law is not sedition, and Fox News Channel legal analyst Andy McCarthy promptly wrote,

there is no insurrection or sedition without the use of force. Disobeying a lawful order is insubordination, not insurrection or sedition. Disobeying an unlawful order is required. That is all. Professor of the early American Republic, Joanne Freeman, wrote that she was not going to repost Trump's howling threats against Democratic lawmakers. I'll just say, one, we still have free speech here.

Two, people can still oppose the president. Three, no. George Washington wouldn't have hanged the lawmakers because he was very careful to stay strictly within the bounds of his. office as president. He didn't want to be a king or dictator. Plus, he was in his right mind. By noon, the White House was doing cleanup. At 158, CBS News senior White House and political correspondent Ed O'Keefe reported from Reuters, Trump does not want to execute members of Congress, White House says. An astonishing sentence to see coming from the government of the United States of America.

Hours later, White House Press Secretary Carolyn Leavitt tried to defuse the crisis of the president calling for the execution of members of Congress by claiming the Democratic lawmakers were the ones encouraging violence. When asked about it, Leavitt said, they are literally saying to 1.3 million active duty service members to defy the chain of command not to follow lawful orders. A reporter interrupted. Actually, they said illegal orders. Levitt claimed, they're suggesting that the president has given illegal orders, which he has not.

Every single order that has given to this United States military by this commander in chief and through this chain of command through the Secretary of War is lawful. In fact, Gordon Lubold, Courtney Kubay, and Dan DeLuce of NBC News, reported yesterday that the senior judge advocate general, or JAG, at U.S. Southern Command in Miami, the command that oversees the U.S. strikes on the small boats near Venezuela, expressed concern that the 82 deaths from the strikes were extrajudicial killings. If so, they would expose service members participating in the operations to legal repercussions. According to the reporters, the opinion of a commands top jag on the legality of a military operation typically would determine whether the operation

went forward. It is possible for higher officials to overrule their findings, but their concerns are typically addressed before the operation begins. In this case, though, the reporters write, officials at the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department and other senior government officials overruled him. This new information adds fuel to the concerns of lawyers and lawmakers of both parties about the legality of the boat strikes. Justice lawmakers are pushing back on the administration's refusal to honor the 1973 War Powers Act that requires the president to get Congress's permission to continue strikes for more than 60 days. That deadline passed on on November 2nd, and now the administration appears

to be considering a broader assault on Venezuela. On Tuesday, November 18th, representatives Gregory Meeks, a Democrat of New York, top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Adam Smith, a Democrat of Washington, top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Jim Himes, a Democrat of Connecticut, top Democrat of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence,

Benny Thompson, a Democrat of Mississippi, top Democrat of the House Homeland Security Committee. Jason Crow, Democrat of Colorado, top Democrat of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations, and Elon Omar, a Democrat of Minnesota, introduced a war powers resolution to stop the administration, as they said, from continuing to use U.S. armed forces to conduct strikes in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific. Operations the administration has carried out for more than 60 days without congressional authorization. In the last week, Trump's iron grip on congressional Republicans has appeared to be slipping. All but one member of Congress voted for the Epstein-Files Transparency Act, and then enough Republicans crossed the aisle to sign a second discharge petition to force a House vote on a bipartisan bill to repeal Trump's executive order stripping union protections from federal workers.

If there is anything but a demand for absolute power behind his insistence that Democrats are traitors, it might be a hope of winning wavering Republicans away from budding bipartisanship and back to his MAGA state. standard. Some Trump loyalists did indeed jump to the president's defense. Moore stayed silent. After Trump's threats, the six lawmakers who made the video, Slotkin, Kelly, Deluzio, Goodlander, Houlihan, and Crow issued a statement. We are veterans and national security professionals who love this country and swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. That oath lasts a lifetime and we intend to keep it. No threat, intimidation, or call for violence will deter us from that sacred obligation. What's most telling is that the president considers it punishable by death for us to restate the law. Our service members should know that

we have their backs as they fulfill their oath to the Constitution and obligation. obligation to follow only lawful orders. It is not only the right thing to do, but also our duty. But this isn't about any one of us. This isn't about politics. This is about who we are as Americans. Every American must unite and condemn the president's calls for our murder and political violence.

This is a time for moral clarity. in these moments fear is contagious but so is courage we will continue to lead and will not be intimidated don't give up the ship letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson

it was produced at Soundscape Productions Dead in Massachusetts recorded with music composed by Michael Maas.