Pete Hegseth Just Threatened to Recall Sen. Mark Kelly to Active Duty Just to Court-Martial Him

Just when you think that the day-to-day operations of the Department of Defense/”War” can’t get any more nakedly political, setting a torch to a branch of the United States federal government that had for centuries remained relatively above the fray of individual reprisals against enemies of the President, they find another way to sink deeper into the quagmire of the second Donald Trump era. Today, Pete “hold my pint of vodka” Hegseth’s Department of War announced that it was engaging in a blatantly partisan investigation into Democratic Senator Mark Kelly (AZ), in seeming direct response to last week’s video from a handful of Democratic members of Congress who stressed that U.S. troops have a responsibility, under the law, to not obey “illegal orders.” Trump, in response, called the video “seditious behavior” that was “punishable by DEATH!”—an insane bit of violent rhetoric that precisely zero Republican elected officials chose to denounce despite months of claims that overheated Democratic rhetoric was fueling political violence. Turns out, it’s only okay to say “We need to execute members of Congress” when it’s the President saying it—who knew?

The Department of War’s statement specifically goes on to threaten that it could include “recall to active duty for court-martial proceedings,” which would be “handled in compliance with military law, ensuring due process and impartiality. Further official comments will be limited, to preserve the integrity of the proceedings.”

Actually doing this would be without precedent since, I dunno … World War II, maybe, when the country was in an actual armed conflict? There exists little to suggest that the Pentagon would be able to simply compel a sitting member of Congress, a Senator no less, to step down from their position. One might suspect that this could be some kind of scheme to rob the state of Arizona/the Senate chamber of a Democratic senator, but the state’s laws clearly state that any replacement would be appointed from the same party by the state’s governor, Democrat Katie Hobbs. Notably, there’s nothing in the Pentagon statement about any of the other Democratic members of Congress who appeared in the same video, all of whom were also military veterans, suggesting that Kelly had been arbitrarily chosen as perhaps the highest profile designated target here.

To me, this all suggests one of Donald Trump’s favorite things: Performative intimidation theatrics from his underlings to curry favor, without much intent to actually follow through on any of it on the part of those underlings. But hey, perhaps some more hyper-partisan persecution of a duly elected official of a key swing state will help those cratering approval numbers Trump is currently facing?

Senator Mark Kelly, for his part, retired from the U.S. Navy as Captain in 2011 after 25 years of decorated service in both the Navy and NASA, where he flew space missions as a pilot throughout the 2000s, before being elected to the Senate in 2020. He probably would have continued to serve his country in this capacity for even longer, if he hadn’t retired from the Navy and NASA in 2011 following the attempted assassination of his wife, U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords. Kelly subsequently retired the same year to be closer to her in her recovery from a severe brain injury following the shooting.

In what would be hilarious if it wasn’t so profoundly sad, the Department of War’s own statement literally goes on to reiterate the very same point that the Democratic members of Congress were making with their own video, as it states “All servicemembers are reminded that they have a legal obligation under the UCMJ to obey lawful orders.” Well, yeah! Do you know what another way is to phrase “You’re obligated to obey lawful orders?” That would be “You’re obligated to not obey unlawful orders,” which is precisely what Kelly and others stated in their own video. Of course, the Pentagon statement goes on from that point to assert that all “orders are presumed to be lawful,” a rather nifty little military tautology that seems to say that any order, once given, instantly becomes lawful regardless of what it is. Sure, nothing about that has an air of George Orwell about it, right?

Again, it’s a little difficult to accept that the Pentagon has the levers to make good on much of anything of their threats in this instance, and it’s by far easiest to imagine that this is simply Pete Hegseth’s desperate attempt to look like he’s sticking up for the Big Man in the White House, when he’s not coining porny-sounding military operations. But when it comes to the competition of which Trump sycophant is willing to sell themselves out most deeply or abuse the law most thoroughly, you can never really feel comfortable that they won’t find a new bottom.

Listen, Trump. Your continued threats will not intimidate me or keep me from doing my job, which includes oversight of the executive branch.

Stop the threats of execution, hanging, and sending a mob before someone gets hurt.

America deserves better.

Listen, Trump. Your continued threats will not intimidate me or keep me from doing my job, which includes oversight of the executive branch.

Stop the threats of execution, hanging, and sending a mob before someone gets hurt.

America deserves better.

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— Captain Mark Kelly (@captmarkkelly.bsky.social) November 23, 2025 at 9:28 PM

One hopes that Kelly will live up to the above social media posturing, rather than be cowed into silence or inaction by the threats.

 

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