Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ramped up his tirade against Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly on Tuesday, disparaging Kelly's military title and said the Democrat’s video urging troops not to follow illegal orders amounted to "sedition."
"So 'Captain' Kelly, not only did your sedition video intentionally undercut good order & discipline … but you can’t even display your uniform correctly," Hegseth wrote in a post on X, a response to Kelly's own post saying he is not going to be intimidated by Hegseth's threat to court-martial him. "Your medals are out of order & rows reversed. When/if you are recalled to active duty, it’ll start with a uniform inspection."
In a second post on X, Hegseth called the video Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers made a "politically-motivated influence operation" that "undermines trust, creates hesitation in the chain of command, and erodes cohesion."
However, data released by YouGov on Tuesday finds that Americans widely disagree with Hegseth’s interpretation of what happened.
One new poll finds that Americans do not think what Kelly and the five other Democratic lawmakers did is treason. The survey finds that a near-majority (49%) say it is not treason for lawmakers to tell troops not to follow illegal orders, while just 25% think it is treason. The remaining 26% are unsure.
Half of Americans (50%) also approve of the Democratic lawmakers' video urging troops not to follow illegal orders, while just 32% disapprove.
What's more, a third of Americans (34%) think President Donald Trump has given illegal orders, while 32% say he hasn't and another 34% are unsure. The results largely break across party lines, with most Republicans (64%) saying Trump hasn’t given illegal orders, while most Democrats (60%) say he has.
Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, shown in 2020.
Overall, those are difficult numbers for Trump, who has ordered legally dubious military strikes off the coast of South America against what he claims are drug-smuggling boats—though Americans will never fully know since he has not released evidence to prove the claims and the people on the boats were killed without any trial.
Indeed, Trump’s process of carrying out the attacks on alleged Venezuelan drug boats is unpopular. A CBS News/YouGov poll released Sunday found that a whopping 75% of Americans think Trump needs to show evidence that the boats he’s ordered strikes on contain drugs. Another 70% say they oppose military action in the South American nation.
But never underestimate Trump and the dopes around him to take politically idiotic stances in the name of getting revenge against Democrats or anyone else whom the snowflake crew thinks wronged them.
