Late November 2025 has seen a political storm erupt in Washington, with President Donald Trump’s social media posts once again at the center of controversy. The president’s all-caps tirades on Truth Social, calling for the arrest—and even the execution—of Democratic lawmakers who urged the military to disobey illegal orders, have triggered a cascade of responses, investigations, and warnings from across the political spectrum.
The saga began when a group of six congressional Democrats with military or intelligence backgrounds released a video message. Their intent was clear: urge members of the armed services and intelligence community to uphold their constitutional duties and refuse any illegal orders from the White House or Defense Department. As reported by The Washington Post, the lawmakers cautioned that “threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home.” They emphasized that military personnel are obligated to refuse “manifestly unlawful orders”—a principle rooted in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, though such scenarios are rare and fraught with legal complexity.
President Trump’s reaction was swift and incendiary. On the night of November 23, he took to Truth Social to declare, “MANY GREAT LEGAL SCHOLARS AGREE THAT THE DEMOCRAT TRAITORS THAT TOLD THE MILITARY TO DISOBEY MY ORDERS, AS PRESIDENT, HAVE COMMITTED A CRIME OF SERIOUS PROPORTION!” In another post, he fumed, “THE TRAITORS THAT TOLD THE MILITARY TO DISOBEY MY ORDERS SHOULD BE IN JAIL RIGHT NOW, NOT ROAMING THE FAKE NEWS NETWORKS TRYING TO EXPLAIN THAT WHAT THEY SAID WAS OK. IT WASN’T, AND NEVER WILL BE!” According to Axios and The Washington Post, Trump’s posts did not stop there. He went on to label the Democrats’ actions as “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL,” adding, “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.” He later escalated, declaring the behavior “punishable by DEATH!” and even reshared a post that read: “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!”
The reaction among Democratic lawmakers was immediate and alarmed. Reps. Jason Crow (D-Colorado) and Chris Deluzio (D-Pennsylvania) formally requested the U.S. Capitol Police investigate Trump’s posts, describing them as “intimidating, threatening, and concerning.” Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pennsylvania), herself a former Air Force officer, also filed a complaint, saying on “The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent,” “I don’t know how else to describe that other than a threat to my safety.” Crow, a former Army Ranger, reported a significant uptick in violent rhetoric and threats directed at the offices of the Democrats featured in the video. On Friday, he even posted audio of some of the vulgar threats received.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) also got involved, alerting Capitol Police to potential threats against the video’s creators. The video itself was organized by Sen. Elissa Slotkin (Michigan), a former CIA analyst, and featured Sen. Mark Kelly (Arizona), a Navy veteran; Rep. Maggie Goodlander (New Hampshire), a former Navy reservist; among others. According to The Washington Post, the lawmakers’ requests for protection came amid a surge in threatening communications following Trump’s online barrage.
President Trump, for his part, denied he was threatening the lawmakers. In a November 22 interview on the “Brian Kilmeade Show,” he insisted, “I’m not threatening them, but I think they’re in serious trouble. In the old days, they would have [been] dead. That was seditious behavior. That was a big deal. Today, you know, nothing’s a big deal. Today’s a different world. It’s a softer — it’s a meeker, milder world.”
The White House, through press secretary Karoline Leavitt, echoed that Trump was not advocating violence. Still, Leavitt called the Democrats’ message “very dangerous” and possibly punishable by law, stating, “I’m not a lawyer. I’ll leave that to the Department of Justice and the Department of War to decide.” She further asserted that “every single order that is given to this United States military by this commander in chief and through this chain of command, through the Secretary of War, is lawful.” The Pentagon declined to comment.
Meanwhile, the president’s posts did not spare members of his own party. According to HuffPost, on the evening of November 24, Trump also attacked Republicans such as Sen. Rand Paul, Rep. Thomas Massie, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, branding them “lowlifes.” He called for military tribunals, claiming “the justice system has been corrupted,” and pressured the Supreme Court to rule in his favor on tariffs, warning that a negative decision could cost the country $2 trillion—a figure he did not substantiate.
On the Democratic side, the rhetoric has been equally heated but focused on the perceived dangers of Trump’s words. Senator Mark Kelly, whose wife Gabby Giffords survived an assassination attempt in 2011, told CBS’s “Face the Nation,” “Just like Gabby, somebody tried to assassinate him, and he should understand that his words… could have serious, serious consequences.” Kelly said he refuses to be intimidated, adding, “We’ve heard very little, basically crickets, from Republicans in the United States Congress about what the president has said about hanging members of Congress.” He urged his GOP colleagues to reject Trump’s threats publicly.
Senator Amy Klobuchar, speaking to NBC’s “Meet the Press,” condemned the president’s posts as “dangerous.” She said, “What is dangerous is the president of the United States threatening these members of Congress with death. Literally, saying that they should be executed.” Klobuchar’s comments echoed those of other Democrats who worry that Trump’s rhetoric, amplified by his massive social media following, could inspire real-world violence.
New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani weighed in as well, calling Trump a “fascist” and a “despot” in a November 24 interview, underscoring the deepening polarization in American politics.
Amid the uproar, a new transparency feature on X (formerly Twitter) revealed that many influential “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) personalities on the platform are based outside the United States, including in Russia, Nigeria, and India—a reminder of the global reach and complexity of the current political climate.
As the week draws to a close, the fallout from President Trump’s posts remains unresolved. Democratic lawmakers are seeking protection and accountability, while Trump and his allies double down on their claims of seditious behavior. The silence—or at least the lack of public condemnation—from most congressional Republicans has not gone unnoticed, adding another layer to a saga that shows no signs of abating. The episode serves as a stark reminder of the volatile intersection of politics, rhetoric, and security in America’s current moment.
