President Trump’s Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, tried to punish retired former Navy captain, U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (R-AZ), for encouraging active members of the military to reject illegal orders. (Kelly was one of six Democratic lawmakers who either served in the military or intelligence community to convey that message in a video that went viral in November.)
Each of us swore an oath to the Constitution. We are all watching what President Trump is doing with the uniformed military.
As people who have served, it’s important to speak out.
So on 10/18 let’s do what we do best.
Wear the red, white and blue.
Wave the flag. Peacefully. pic.twitter.com/NFVoqbHfwi
— Elissa Slotkin (@ElissaSlotkin) October 16, 2025
On Thursday, a federal judge sided with Kelly to stop the Pentagon’s effort to demote the Arizona Democrat and reduce his rank and retirement pay. Hegseth responded on social media, claiming the ruling will be “immediately appealed” and wrote: “Sedition is sedition, ‘Captain.’”
Captain, which Hegseth put in quotes, is Kelly’s rank at retirement. He flew combat missions as a ‘Top Gun’ fighter pilot and is also, notably, a former astronaut.
Pentagon keeps digging its own hole deeper… you have to know when to hold them and when to fold them. I don’t defend the video the six elected officials made, as it was foolish. But, they do have their First Amendment Rights. https://t.co/thsp3wGMX4
— Rep. Don Bacon
(@RepDonBacon) February 12, 2026
[Note: President Trump also called the six Democratic lawmakers traitors who should be charged with sedition punishable by death. Trump amplified a post which read, “HANG THEM.”]
Kelly sued the Pentagon and Hegseth and in Thursday’s preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon wrote: “This Court has all it needs to conclude that Defendants have trampled on Senator Kelly’s First Amendment freedoms and threatened the constitutional liberties of millions of military retirees.”
U.S. Representative Don Bacon (R-NE), a retired U.S. Army Brigadier General, replied to Hegseth’s post: “Pentagon keeps digging its own hole deeper… you have to know when to hold them and when to fold them. I don’t defend the video the six elected officials made, as it was foolish. But, they do have their First Amendment Rights.”