6 Democratic members of Congress, former service members, made an ad in November noting the UCMJ [FN1] requires refusal to obey an illegal order. [FN2] The ad focused on orders issued by one’s superior. [FN3] An order to commit a crime is “a patently illegal order.” [FN4] 1/14

At My Lai, in Vietnam, unarmed civilians, including babies, old women and old men, were shot. [FN5] Murder is a crime. [FN6] In the November ad, contrary to claims by trump, the members of Congress did not encourage [FN7] service members to disobey orders. 2/14

The 6 Democratic members of Congress had too narrow of a focus.
Refusal to obey illegal general orders & regulations is not lawful if “contrary to the Constitution, the laws of the [U.S.], or ... beyond the authority of the official issuing it." [FN8] [FN9] 3/14

The Framers wrote the Constitution with built-in safety features. “Checks & balances” is a phrase often repeated, but its meaning obscured. Each of the three branches of government was meant to prevent the rise of a dictatorship, such as we see today. 4/14

The Framers did not foresee all three branches of government being subverted by corruption and by hostile foreign powers. Service members of our military take an oath to the Constitution, not the country. No oath is given to a god or individual, unlike another government: 5/14

“I swear by God this sacred oath, that I will render unconditional obedience to Adolf Hitler, the Fuehrer of the German Reich and people, supreme commander of the armed forces, and will be ready as a brave soldier to risk my life at any time for this oath." [FN10] 6/14

A would-be dictator resides in the White House he is taking joy in destroying. He will order our military against us. One of the last checks we have on power is the people in military service to refuse to obey orders issued by a dictator. Such orders are per se unconstitutional. 7/14

Sorry, but the Democratic Party leadership took a lesson from Berne Sanders ($5 donors in fund-raising), but abandoned the policies he advocated. It’s form over substance, like peaceful transition in letting trump steal office last January. 8/14

We can take lessons from other countries. Taking up arms wrong & stupid. In the protests against the Vietnam war and for civil rights resorts to violence by the few resulted in people dying. Those advocating violence often were working with, or actually were cops. 9/14

Footnotes:
FN1. Uniform Code of Military Justice is the “collection of substantive and procedural rules governing the discipline of members of the armed forces.” Black’s Law Dictionary, New Pocket Ed (1996), pp. 107-08. 10/14

FN2. Matthew Barry, “Unlawful Orders: This Article is intended to explain unlawful orders in the Military,” citing Art. 92 and Military Judges Benchbook, accessed 1/10/26. 11/14

FN3. Juana Summers and Quil Lawrence, “Pentagon investigates Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly after he appeared in Democrats' video,” NPR, 11/24/25, accessed 1/10/26.
FN4. Barry, Id. 12/14

FN5. See, Fred L. Borch, “What Really Happened on 16 March 1968? What Lessons Have Been Learned? A Look at the My Lai Incident Fifty Years Later,” The Army Historical Foundation, accessed 1/11/26.
FN6. 10 U.S.C. §118.
FN7. To “stimulate, incite.” The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 1974 ed., p. 239. 13/14

FN8. 10 U.S.C. §92(1).
FN9. Barry, id., citing UCMJ Art. 92.
FN10. Yale Law School, Avalon Project, “Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression Volume IV
Document No. 2061-PS,” accessed 1/11/26. 14/14