Trump Says “Punishable by Death”: GOP Leaders Break Ranks

Trump talks death. That's right. Death for Republicans or for Democrats and Republicans push back. According to the Times, President Trump exploded on social media over a video from six Democratic veterans reminding troops they must refuse illegal orders. We talked about that yesterday right here on the show. I showed you some of that video. Trump wrote, quote, seditious behavior punishable by death. Death in all caps. And shared a post saying, hang them, George Washington. In another message, he warned, this is really bad and dangerous to our country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. Seditious behavior from traitors. Lock them up. But this time, Republicans didn't all echo him. Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune, when asked about Trump calling it a crime punishable by death, replied, I, I don't agree with that. He still called the Democrats video ill advised, unnecessary and provocative. But he clearly rejected Trump's escalation. At the White House podium, Press Secretary Caroline Levitt answered no when asked if the President wants to execute members of Congress. Now, Senator Chuck Schumer said Trump is calling for the execution of elected officials and makes political violence more like, so what's the reality message here? Trump has seemed to a lot of people, especially centrist and Democrats, as unhinged for years. Now he's coming across as unhinged even to Republicans calling for the execution of Democrats for simply stating what every single member of our military is taught day one when they show up for basic training. That's absurd. They are told in basic training, you have the right to ignore illegal orders. Tall they said, let's go a little deeper here. You know, it's a little odd at many level. No, it's not a little odd. It's extremely odd for a president to be saying kill members of the Congress, the Senate and the House for simply stating something that's 100% factually correct, which is soldiers in America have the right, indeed the duty to, to ignore illegal orders. If a general says, I don't like this person because the person's skin color is green, this citizen walking across the street, please shoot him as a soldier, you have the right to say, no, I'm not going to follow that order. You even have the obligation to do that. Now, what's the real, what's really going on? There are many, many military activists, legal scholars and other experts who contend Trump's orders to the military to just bomb and kill boats in the Caribbean because we kind of think, oh, maybe they're a drug dealer, who knows? But let's just err on the side of getting rid of stuff and Killing people, It's illegal. Now, the Democratic legislator, by the way, all of whom served in the military, unlike President Bone spurs, who never served a day in the military, so. So these are all people who have dedicated their lives, risked their lives for military service. These are not draft dodgers the way Trump, George W. Bush or others have been. These are patriotic Americans who serve their country either in the intelligence capacity or in actual wars. In the military, reminding Americans, you have the right and the obligation to not follow orders when you are asked to do something illegal, they, they did not say, I should point out, they did not say, ignore generals, ignore your sergeants, ignore your commander in chief simply because you don't like them politically. That's not what they said. That would have been wrong, but that's not what they're saying. So here's the other thing I'm finding fascinating about this, because as we've talked about on this show in the last week, the ground seems to be shifting in Washington, D.C. and America. It's not a done deal yet, but you feel power slipping away from Trump. You feel his iron grip over the neck of every Republican political figure in America loosening. You see more and more of them thinking, do we really want to just blindly follow this guy, given how low he is in the polls, how people who ran connected with him in 2025 lost in a landslide in many cases? Do we really want to just be seen as marching in lockstep with this guy any longer? And many of them, they're not saying it publicly, they're hinting at it in their comments because it wasn't that long ago when if someone asked Republican leader in the Senate, John Boone, do you agree with Trump on X, whatever it is, the only thing you would have heard out of him is, yes, yes, I agree. He might have done it with a stony face, he might have done it with tight lips. He might have done it with a stern, uncomfortable tone of voice. But he would have said, yes, I agree. He didn't do that. Yesterday, he said, no, he does not agree with Trump that members of the House and Senate should be executed for simply stating a fact that every member of our military is told at some point in their base training. Even more interesting to me is this White House press secretary who typically is happy to spin anything. If Trump says a rainy day is the sunniest day ever, she's going to put with a smile on her face, the happiest expression of yes, it's a beautiful sunny day. She could be soaking wet, drenched in the rain. Normally, she's happy to spin anything he says. Even she didn't say, yes, he's correct. She said no, we should not be executing members of our legislative body because they stated facts. A couple more facts on this. Governor Shapiro points out that this is deepening divide in our country. Now, he's someone who's been a victim of hate crime. They burned down his house. So he justifiably is saying the last thing we need is more talks of executions. And he says specifically that Trump is actively encouraging political violence once again. And of course, the irony is that, you know, Trump talking about sedition and being a traitor after January 6th of all people, the absurdity of someone himself who committed traitorous acts, who fomented these seditious activities that, may I remind you, resulted in the death of a human being on January 6 and the death the very next day of a police officer. The blood is on the hands of certain traitors. And it's not from these Democrats making a public service announcement reminding military officials that indeed they have the right and the obligation to not follow orders to commit illegal ax.