There Will Be Trials For These Traitors

Senator Mark Kelly is the kind of American hero Pete Hegseth could only dream of being.

A Navy captain. A combat pilot. A NASA astronaut. A man whose wife was shot in the head while serving this country, and who still stepped forward to serve again.

And now he’s being threatened with court-martial by a man who built his career ranting on television, a man who was barred from serving during President Biden’s inauguration due to tattoos on his chest that are “extremist symbols” associated with white supremacist or far-right networks. This is who Trump put in charge of the Department of War, not someone who was sidelined for defending democracy, but someone flagged by his own peers as a threat within the ranks.

That’s the kind of upside-down government we’re living under now. The people who risked their lives for this country are being hunted down by the ones who couldn’t even pass a basic background check. The ones who warned us are being punished, while the ones who triggered internal security alerts are being rewarded with power.

But this isn’t just about outrage, it’s about heartbreak. The heartbreak of watching our government, the one meant to serve and protect us, being hollowed out by people who are not qualified to lead. They were picked to obey. And now, with every decision, every abuse of power, we’re not just watching democracy crumble, we’re watching it be willingly handed over to cowards and crooks.

Under this administration, loyalty is the only qualification that matters. Not courage. Not expertise. Not the rule of law. Just loyalty. That’s how we ended up with a former Fox News host, Pete Hegseth, leading what used to be the Department of Defense, now renamed the “Department of War”. He’s using his power not to protect the nation, but to target a United States senator for telling the truth. This symbolic renaming, pushed through by the administration early in the term, wasn’t just cosmetic; it was part of a broader ideological shift meant to signal aggression abroad and hardline control at home.

This isn’t the first time a government has picked loyalty over competence. Back in the 1800s, President Andrew Jackson gave government jobs to his friends and supporters rather than to people who were actually qualified. It was called the “spoils system,” and it led to widespread corruption and failure before it was reformed. We’ve seen it happen in other countries, too. In the 1930s, Hitler filled his government with loyal followers who cared more about pleasing him than doing what was right. When leaders choose loyalty over law, everything starts to fall apart fast.

This is all from the short video Kelly appeared in alongside five other lawmakers, veterans, intelligence officials, and national security professionals, to deliver a simple message to members of the armed forces: follow the law, not unlawful orders. Their statement was grounded in decades of military code, ethics, and U.S. legal precedent. It was not seditious. It was responsible. The video, circulated quietly online, urged troops to remember their oath is to the Constitution, not to any single leader, a message grounded in long-standing military ethics, not partisanship.

But that’s not how Trump’s government saw it.

They called it betrayal. They called it illegal. They called it “seditious behavior… punishable by death.” His Vice President, J.D. Vance, doubled down, calling on the military to discipline these public servants. And then, the “Department of War” issued this official statement:

OFFICIAL STATEMENT:
The Department of War has received serious allegations of misconduct against Captain Mark Kelly, USN (Ret.). In accordance with the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. § 688, and other applicable regulations, a thorough review of these allegations has been initiated to determine further actions, which may include recall to active duty for court-martial proceedings or administrative measures. This matter will be handled in compliance with military law, ensuring due process and impartiality. Further official comments will be limited, to preserve the integrity of the proceedings.

The Department of War reminds all individuals that military retirees remain subject to the UCMJ for applicable offenses, and federal laws such as 18 U.S.C. § 2387 prohibit actions intended to interfere with the loyalty, morale, or good order and discipline of the armed forces. Any violations will be addressed through appropriate legal channels.

All servicemembers are reminded that they have a legal obligation under the UCMJ to obey lawful orders and that orders are presumed to be lawful. A servicemember’s personal philosophy does not justify or excuse the disobedience of an otherwise lawful order.

They are threatening to drag a sitting U.S. Senator, one who has flown combat missions and space missions, back into uniform so they can court-martial him for reminding troops to follow the law. They are calling that “misconduct.” They are citing a law written to allow recall of retired officers for misconduct or serious crimes, not to punish speech in defense of the Constitution. This rarely used legal mechanism, tucked into the military code, allows a retired officer to be forced back into active duty to face military discipline, a process normally reserved for serious crimes like espionage or desertion, not protected speech. And most chilling of all, they’re asserting that orders are “presumed lawful,” quietly flipping the burden of proof and stripping service members of their duty to think critically about unlawful commands.

This is authoritarian machinery. It is being used not to protect Americans, but to intimidate anyone who might say “no” to a man who demands blind loyalty. While real threats continue around the world, this government sat around a table and asked: how do we silence a hero?

Senator Ruben Gallego responded with the only words this moment deserved:

“F*ck you and your investigation.”

Gallego is a Marine combat veteran. He’s not reckless. He’s not loud just to be loud. But he knows a bully when he sees one. And this administration, from the Oval Office to the Department of War, is filled with bullies in government-issued suits. This was never about national security. It’s about revenge. It’s about power. It’s about reminding the rest of us that if they can come for someone like Mark Kelly, they can come for anyone.

This tactic has history. Richard Nixon famously maintained an “enemies list” and used federal institutions (the IRS, the FBI, the DOJ) to go after journalists, members of Congress, and private citizens who crossed him. In the 1950s, Senator McCarthy’s blacklists punished people not for crimes, but for perceived disloyalty. What we’re seeing now is not new. But it is back, more shameless, more aggressive, and more dangerous.

And this isn’t the only example.

Today, a federal judge dismissed the Trump administration’s criminal cases against both James Comey and Letitia James. Why? Because the special prosecutor handling the indictments, Lindsey Halligan, was never legally appointed. She wasn’t confirmed. She wasn’t vetted. She was just inserted into power at Trump’s request by his hand-picked Attorney General, Pam Bondi. Halligan had been Trump’s personal lawyer. She went from defending him in civil fraud to holding the full weight of the Justice Department’s criminal authority. Before her illegal appointment as a federal prosecutor, Halligan had no criminal trial experience. The judge ruled that her appointment violated federal statute and the Constitution itself.

Letitia James, the Attorney General of New York, has led multiple investigations into Trump’s financial dealings, making her a top target of his allies, who now sought to punish her using the federal criminal system.

So not only were these prosecutions deeply political, they were illegal from the start.

James Comey said it clearly: “I was targeted for political reasons. I expect they’ll try again.” He knows what this is. So do we. It’s the same pattern we see over and over.

Meanwhile, lawmakers like Elissa Slotkin, who also appeared in that “Seditious Six” video, are receiving bomb threats and violent messages. Not because they did anything wrong. But because the President of the United States said on the internet that they deserved death.

This isn’t even the first time America has criminalized dissent under the guise of loyalty. In 1798, the Alien and Sedition Acts made it illegal to criticize the government, and journalists and editors were jailed for writing the truth. After the Civil War, white supremacist governments in the South labeled Black lawmakers and Union supporters as “insurrectionists” to justify political violence and disenfranchisement. The playbook is old. And it’s being used again.

And here’s the thing: the most dangerous threat isn’t coming from outside our borders. It’s coming from the inside. Trump and his enablers have turned the justice system into a weapon. They’ve redefined sedition as “reminding people to follow the law.” They are trying to criminalize opposition.

So where does that leave us?

It leaves us in a time of trauma. We are living under a government that punishes truth-tellers, silences critics, and fills key positions with loyalists who don’t know, or don’t care, what the law even is. But it also leaves us with a responsibility. To speak. To organize. To document. And most importantly, to eventually demand trials.

And there will be trials.

There have to be trials. Not just elections. Not just firings. Not just new leadership that “turns the page.” If we ever want this country to heal, we have to face the truth of what has been done to it. We have to open the files. We have to hear the testimony. We have to insist that the people who broke their oaths be held accountable in court, not just in history books.

After the horrors of World War II, the Nuremberg Trials didn’t just punish Nazi leaders, they established the precedent that no one is above the law. That “just following orders” is not a defense. South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission did not skip the hard parts. They aired public testimony, documented abuse, and gave a fractured country something to build on. We need that here. We need the truth, not just for now, but so future generations can recognize and stop it quicker than we are today.

When this administration is no longer in power, we must demand that the next Department of Justice fully investigate, and we can’t allow them to sweep this under the rug in the name of unity. That’s how this all happened in the first place. We had four years between his first and his second corrupt term. We hesitated. We slow-walked the truth. And because of the lack of consequence for January 6th, the failure to prosecute those who enabled it, and the political fear of holding powerful people accountable, we are where we are today.

This time, we cannot let it come back.

We have 3 more years. There will be more chaos. There will be more pain. We haven’t even seen the worst of it yet. But we have to hold the faith that the trials are coming.

I will see you tomorrow,
Heather

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