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No, Democratic Lawmakers Didn’t Commit Sedition
Donald Trump takes questions from the press in the Oval Office in Washington, D.C., on November 18, 2025. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump accused six Democrats of ‘seditious’ conduct after they told troops they can refuse unlawful orders. The law doesn’t back him up—but the video is still profoundly unwise.
By Jed Rubenfeld
11.22.25 — U.S. Politics
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On Thursday, President Donald Trump seemed to call for the execution of six Democratic members of Congress. Why? Because they had posted a video advising military servicemen that they can refuse to obey unlawful orders.

The senators and representatives had committed “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. He then reposted someone else’s statement saying, “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!” In an interview on Friday, Trump insisted, “I’m not threatening death, but I think they’re in serious trouble. In the old days, it was death.”

After all of this went viral, many people have been asking me two questions: First, did the lawmakers actually commit sedition? And second, are servicemen allowed to disobey unlawful orders?

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Jed Rubenfeld
Jed Rubenfeld is a professor of constitutional law at Yale Law School, a free speech lawyer, and host of the Straight Down the Middle podcast. He is the author of five books, including the million-copy bestselling novel The Interpretation of Murder, and his work has been translated into over thirty languages. He lives with his wife, Amy Chua, in New York City, and is the proud father of two exceptional daughters, Sophia and Lulu.
Tags:
Military
Congress
Donald Trump
Law
Democrats
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