Vice President JD Vance sharply criticized six Democratic lawmakers who encouraged military troops to defy orders from their superiors, suggesting they themselves had committed an "illegal" act.
Vance was responding to one of the individuals involved in the video message to service members and intelligence officials, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), who admitted she was "not aware" of any illegal orders being issued by the Commander-in-Chief.
"If the president hasn't issued illegal orders, then members of Congress telling the military to defy the president is by definition illegal," Vance wrote on X.
The comments seem to echo complaints by President Trump that what the Democrats had engaged in was seditious behavior.
If the president hasn't issued illegal orders, them members of Congress telling the military to defy the president is by definition illegal. https://t.co/Q5drUE6BLS
— JD Vance (@JDVance) November 23, 2025
READ MORE: Did Democrats Seriously Call the Capitol Police on Trump for Accusing Them of Sedition?
‘Beyond the Pale’: Mike Johnson Defends Trump, Torches Dems Who Called for Military to Defy Orders
The Democrats in question were initially so convinced that President Trump had, in fact, issued illegal orders that they posted a video imploring military members to defy them. And the message wasn't subtle either, as they referenced "this administration ... pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens."
The message was clear: They were calling for service members sent to enforce immigration laws and clean up crime in blue cities to defy their orders. As well as referencing orders to incinerate narco-terrorists and their drug-running boats, trafficking deadly narcotics to the United States.
When given the opportunity during an interview on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" to state definitively what orders were illegal, however, Slotkin got cold feet.
"Do you believe President Trump has issued any illegal orders?" co-anchor Martha Raddatz pressed.
"To my knowledge, I -- I am not aware of things that are illegal, but certainly there are some legal gymnastics that are going on with these Caribbean strikes and everything related to Venezuela," she spat back.
Elissa Slotkin ADMITS Democrats lied about President Trump issuing illegal orders to the military:
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) November 23, 2025
ABC: "Do you believe President Trump has issued any illegal orders?"
SLOTKIN: "To my knowledge I am not aware of things that are illegal." pic.twitter.com/63F8AHkK7E
Unfortunately for Slotkin and the others—Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Reps. Chris Deluzio (PA-17), Chrissy Houlahan (PA-6), Maggie Goodlander (NH-2), and Jason Crow (CO-6)—Vance is correct here.
You can't perform "legal gymnastics" in choosing whether or not to defy orders one personally feels are illegal. Democrats are encouraging service members to use left-wing mental gymnastics to interpret the orders as unlawful. 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.
While the President's comments have garnered the most attention from the media, calling out the lawmakers for engaging in sedition and reminding them that, once upon a time, such a deplorable crime was punishable by death, other Republicans seem united in agreement that what they did was itself illegal.
The question is: What is anybody going to do about it?
"I'm not threatening them, but I think they're in serious trouble," says @POTUS on Democrat Members of Congress encouraging members of the military to defy orders from their commander-in-chief.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) November 21, 2025
"These are people that, in my opinion, broke the law." pic.twitter.com/mWxcgKuNDD
House Speaker Mike Johnson defended the President's remarks, saying, "What I read was he was defining the crime of sedition. That is a factual statement."
Johnson quantified those remarks by suggesting legal experts would have to analyze the situation. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made similar remarks last week.
"Why aren't you talking about what these members of Congress are doing to encourage and incite violence?" she asked the White House press corps.
Slotkin admitting that she is "not aware" of any illegal orders has created further trouble for the band of self-styled resistance warriors. If there is nothing out there demonstrably unlawful to defy, then anybody who defies orders would be engaging in illegal activity themselves.
And if you weren't aware of any illegal orders themselves, Ms. Slotkin, why make the video in the first place? It's obvious. To sow chaos in the military and intelligence community. To prompt some rogue members to engage in insubordination or mutiny.
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