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The hypocrisy would be breathtaking if it weren’t so predictable. Democrats who spent months telling U.S. service members to “refuse illegal orders” are now scrambling to explain why those same troops should be blamed for following the commander-in-chief’s directives in the conflict with Iran.
Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut wants it both ways. On one hand, he declares the troops “are in no way to blame for this illegal war” and insists responsibility lies “solely and simply with the president.” On the other hand, he and his party have spent the better part of a year undermining the very military they now claim to support. Representative Daren Soto of Florida offered the standard deflection, saying “we support the troops always” while simultaneously backing efforts to kneecap their mission.
But the paper trail doesn’t lie. Just months ago, six Democratic lawmakers with military backgrounds—including Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan—issued a direct call for service members to disregard what they deemed unconstitutional directives. “You must refuse illegal orders,” Slotkin said in remarks that now hang in the air like a bad odor. “Don’t give up the ship.”
The question these lawmakers won’t answer is simple: were those calls for disobedience serious, or were they just political theater? If American troops should refuse “illegal orders,” why is Blumenthal now claiming they’re blameless for following those same orders? The contradiction exposes the game Democrats have been playing—using the military as a political football while claiming the moral high ground.
The House war powers resolution that failed Thursday by a single vote would have forced Trump to remove U.S. forces from Iran, a move that would have abandoned allies and emboldened Tehran just as negotiations show promise. Democrats cite the War Powers Act of 1973, but that law’s 60-day clock hasn’t even run out yet. Representative Jonathan Jackson of Illinois called the conflict “a war,” but his party’s own previous statements suggest they wanted American troops to sit this one out entirely.
Senator John Fetterman, to his credit, has been the lone Democrat willing to break ranks. He’s supported Operation Epic Fury from the start and correctly noted that after 48 days, “none of this has been illegal.” His honesty stands in stark contrast to colleagues who seem to have forgotten their own words.
Blumenthal’s complaint about lacking “accurate information” rings hollow coming from a party that has done everything possible to obstruct the administration’s foreign policy while offering no coherent alternative. The same senator who told troops to potentially disobey their commander now wants classified briefings on operational details. The chutzpah is remarkable.
What we’re witnessing is the collapse of Democratic credibility on national security. They cannot simultaneously demand military obedience to congressional authority while encouraging service members to ignore that very chain of command. They cannot claim to support the troops while working to undermine their mission at every turn. And they certainly cannot pretend their previous statements calling for insubordination were just harmless rhetoric.
The troops deserve better than to be used as political props in a game of partisan gotcha. They deserve leaders who speak with one voice about American interests, not politicians who change their tune based on which way the wind is blowing. When the history of this conflict is written, the record will show which party stood with America’s military and which treated them as expendable pawns in a Washington power struggle.
Source: Fox News
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