Picking the Wrong Targets

Sen. Mark Kelly fights back the right way

The thin-skinned weaklings in the Trump regime do not take kindly to critics or criticism: they tend to go after their most vocal and popular adversaries with the goal of silencing them.

Recently, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth censured Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, a Navy veteran and former astronaut, over a public service announcement Kelly participated in. In the PSA, he and other veterans of the military and CIA reminded active service members that they must refuse illegal orders. That doesn’t sound controversial, does it? Hegseth and Donald, however, interpreted the message as an assault on their authority.

Hegseth’s censure letter accuses Kelly of sedition. On Twitter, he wrote in part:

In response to Senator Mark Kelly’s seditious statements — and his pattern of reckless misconduct — the Department of War is taking administrative action against Captain Mark E. Kelly, USN (Ret). The department has initiated retirement grade determination proceedings… with reduction in his retired grade resulting in a corresponding reduction in retired pay.

That is, of course, complete and utter nonsense. Fundamentally, what matters here is Hegseth’s position that telling soldiers not to follow illegal orders is a bad thing, probably because he and Donald want those currently under their command to do whatever they tell them to, legal or not.

Despite being one of five veterans who appear in that PSA, Kelly is the only one that the Trump regime has gone after.

Hegseth previously threatened to court martial Kelly, but as an ABC News report pointed out:

A court-martial would have been more complicated, and experts say could have raised constitutional issues.

In response to the baseless attacks being launched against him, Senator Kelly has demonstrated courage, conviction, and unwavering patriotism, all qualities Donald and everybody in his regime lack. After having received word that he had been censured for exercising his First Amendment rights, Kelly spoke to reporters:

They didn’t like it. That’s one of the reasons they have censured me. And at the end of the letter, they threaten criminal prosecution if they don’t like what I say going forward. Let me make it perfectly clear: This letter or anything that Pete Hegseth says or does to me is in no way going to affect the way I do my job and represent my constituents in the United States Senate. Ain’t happening. So, his option right now is he can continue with this kind of bullshit, or he can go take a hike.

Senator Kelly has decided to sue the Department of Defense for violating his first amendment rights; he is, in other words, doing exactly what anybody who is baselessly attacked by the Trump regime should do—stand up and fight the good fight.

In another media appearance, Kelly called out the glaring hypocrisy of Donald’s questioning Kelly’s patriotism when Donald himself has never served his country:

I’ve got a question for you. How many generations of Donald Trump’s family have served in the military? Zero. Now, for me and my family, service to our country is in my blood. My great-grandfather served in the U.S. Navy after immigrating from Ireland. Both of my grandfathers served during World War II. Both of my parents wore uniforms, my dad in the 82nd Airborne, and both of them as career police officers. And when it was our turn, my brother and I started as volunteer EMTs as teenagers before becoming Navy captains, pilots in the United States Navy, and NASA astronauts. Donald Trump? He deferred the draft five times because he had ‘bone spurs.’ Look, not everyone has to serve in our military. I get that. But when you’re going to question my patriotism, and lecture me about duty to this country, and threaten me with a court martial, four generations of service to this country earns me the right to speak. Five deferments earns nothing.

I admire Senator Kelly greatly. I truly appreciate the way he is standing up to these thugs. It is very important to me to point out, however, that there is one member of the Trump family who did serve his country – my father, Fred Trump, Jr. During college, dad participated in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC). After graduating from Lehigh University, he served as a second lieutenant in the National Guard. Because of that, what little respect my grandfather had for my father diminished even further—he considered such things a waste of time. Donald, the guy who received five deferments during the Vietnam War, had no respect for my father, his service, or service of any kind. That is who Donald is and always has been.

The reason Donald gave for deferring his service was fictional—he never had bone spurs. Much more important is the reality that because of those five deferments, five other young men served in Donald’s place.

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It turns out that going after a popular swing state Democrat who is willing to fight back and stand his ground was not a particularly smart move on Hegseth’s part. Since the Trump regime’s attacks on him, Kelly has seen a massive surge in donations. In November and December, he was the top earner on the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue and he isn’t even up for reelection this year.

Kelly is showing Democrats how it’s done: Don’t back down; don’t capitulate to them; don’t empower them by acting afraid. Instead, stand up. Hegseth and Donald are not fit to shine Mark Kelly’s shoes. Kelly is making it clear to the rest of the country that he understands that.