Trump shares calls for death by hanging for 6 Congressional Democrats because "GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!"

[Miles Archer]

Last edited Thu Nov 20, 2025, 01:48 PM - Edit history (1)

Trump, 79, suggested a group of Democrats should be punished by death after they urged U.S. service members and the intelligence community to refuse illegal orders.

“SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” he wrote on Truth Social.

*****

“This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???” he wrote.

*****

“HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!” the post reads.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-shares-violent-call-to-hang-his-political-foes/

[efhmc]

1. George Washington would not issue illegal orders.

[marble falls]

2. In the military we are told to not follow illegal orders. Nuremberg firmly established that rule.

[Fiendish Thingy]

3. Trump didn't write those words about Washington, he retweeted somebody else's post. Nt

[MarineCombatEngineer]

4. He didn't,

but he might as well have, it's his warped thinking coming from a diseased, putrid brain.

[Miles Archer]

9. You're right, so I updated the OP to read "Trump SHARES calls." He absolutely and unquestionably did that. Thanks. N/T

[Fiendish Thingy]

10. Thanks for your commitment to accuracy. Nt

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. Dem leaders just said Trump's call for execution of Dems has prompted them to contact US Capitol Police

Link to tweet

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. MaddowBlog-White House targets Democratic veterans who told troops to refuse illegal orders

In theory, the Democratic video shouldn’t have been especially controversial. In practice, Team Trump’s pushback has been over the top.

Dem veterans reminded servicemembers to refuse illegal orders.

Trump responded by accusing them of “sedition,” labeling them “traitors” and suggesting that they’re subject to arrest — all before raising the possibility *of capital punishment*. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-11-20T16:04:49.330Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/white-house-targets-democratic-veterans-told-troops-refuse-illegal-ord-rcna244954

Acting on those concerns, six Democratic members of Congress, who served in the military, the intelligence community or both, appeared in a video this week to remind current service members that they are obligated to refuse illegal orders. The New York Times reported:

The stark message, posted on Tuesday, was organized by Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former C.I.A. analyst who served multiple tours in Iraq. … ‘Our laws are clear,’ said Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, a Navy veteran and former astronaut. ‘You can refuse illegal orders.’ ‘You must refuse illegal orders,’ added Representative Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, who also served in the Navy.

...In theory, the video shouldn’t have been especially controversial. After all, the Democratic veterans are correct: Service members aren’t supposed to follow illegal orders.

In practice, the partisan pushback has been ferocious.....

On Thursday morning, the president published an item to his social media platform responding to the message from the Democratic veterans, saying, “This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???”

This dovetailed with a similar message, also posted on Thursday morning, which read, “It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL. Their words cannot be allowed to stand — We won’t have a Country anymore!!! An example MUST BE SET.”

Soon after, the Republican added, “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”

Trump similarly amplified an online message written by someone else, who wrote, “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!.....

In the recent past, many leading GOP voices warned that rhetoric like this was corrosive to society and heightened the risk of political violence. Evidently, the incumbent president, outraged by calls in support of the rule of law, doesn’t care.

[Emile]

7. President Bone Spurs is an expert on seditious behavior.

After all, he orchestrated an insurrection against our government.

[tanyev]

8. "Oink oink oink, oink oink oink oink." 🐽

[LetMyPeopleVote]

11. MaddowBlog-'In the old days, it was death': Trump rages again against Democratic military veterans

On Thursday, the president accused Democrats of “seditious behavior, punishable by DEATH!” On Friday, he kept the offensive going.

As Trump’s offensive against Democratic veterans extends into a second day, a thought:

“I’m not threatening death, but...” is the sort of line presidents should avoid. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-11-21T19:17:10.865Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/old-days-was-death-trump-rages-democratic-military-veterans-rcna245165

Amid widespread concerns that Trump’s hysterics might put the Democratic veterans in danger, the president returned to the subject a day later during a Fox News Radio interview with Brian Kilmeade. It might’ve seemed like an opportunity for the Republican to walk back his rhetoric, but that apparently wasn’t part of his plan.

Trump on threatening members of Congress: “I'm not threatening death, but I think they're in serious trouble. In the old days, it was death.”

— The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com) 2025-11-21T17:12:16.100Z

.....For good measure, he added, “But in the old days, if you said a thing like that, that was punishable by death. What they said is, I mean, I don’t know about the modern-day things, because, you know, modern day is a lot softer.”

Trump concluded that the military veterans “broke the law,” though he didn’t explain which law was broken. (The president has a habit of defining “illegal” as “stuff I don’t like.”)

Right off the bat, it’s worth emphasizing that any sentence that begins, “I’m not threatening death, but…” is the sort of line a political leader shouldn’t deliver......

On Capitol Hill, Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado — a decorated military veteran who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan — is seeking a U.S. Capitol Police investigation into Trump for what he described as “intimidating, threatening, and concerning” threats the president made. Democratic Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, an Air Force veteran who also appeared in the video in question, told The New Republic’s Greg Sargent that she made a similar appeal to the Capitol Police.

Whether such an investigation will actually happen remains unclear, though if a regular person sent members of Congress a message accusing them of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” it’s a safe bet law enforcement would follow up and knock on the sender’s door.