A declaration of Senior Citizens for America approving certain statements recently made by six congresspersons and condemning the statements and actions of the Trump administration made in response to them
Senior Citizens for America (SCFA) is an association of older citizens. It was formed in 2025 to protect democracy at a time when authoritarianism is on the rise in our country.
On November 18, 2025, six members of Congress issued a video in which they stated that members of the military should not follow illegal orders. The congresspersons were Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander, Chrissy Houlihan, Mark Kelly, and Elissa Slotkin. Each is a distinguished veteran and/or a former member of the intelligence service. They made these statements in the wake of numerous recent actions by the Trump administration involving questionable deployments of and actions by United States service personnel. Those deployments and actions include using national guard troops to patrol American cities, doing so over the objection of local elected officials, and using American aircraft to strike vessels on the high seas, doing so on the unproven assumption that they were engaged in drug trafficking.
These actions have raised widespread concern over their legality. Indeed, a number of federal courts have already ruled that the deployment of troops in various cities is illegal and ordered them to stop. Questions have been raised in Congress about the boat strikes, which possibly implicate war crimes.
The essence of the statements made by the congresspersons was that military personnel can refuse illegal orders. None of them suggested that legal orders be disobeyed. They were unimpeachably correct in saying that illegal orders should not be. All were – and are – protected by the Constitution’s guarantee of free speech.
Nevertheless, the following day, November 19, 2025, in a fit of unbridled anger, the President Trump posted on Truth Social, his social media platform, that the six lawmakers were engaging in “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH.” The President continued his assault on the “offending” congresspersons by stating that they should be “ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL”.
Taking his cue from the President, the Secretary of Defense (the Department of Defense has not yet properly been renamed the Department of War), Pete Hegseth, has gone still further in the case of Senator Mark Kelly. Kelly is an American hero, having served our country honorably as a Navy pilot and having traveled into space as an astronaut on two separate occasions. Nevertheless, Secretary Hegseth has now set in motion a recall of Senator Kelly to active duty in order to be able to have him tried before a court martial. Meanwhile, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Kash Patel, is seeking interviews of the six congresspersons.
It is apparent that the earlier actions of the administration in firing or sidelining members of the Judge Advocates Corps have paved the way for this situation. Without such internal checks, constitutional abuse is almost predictable.
The actions of the President, the Secretary, and the FBI Director are cruel and punitive and without basis in either law or fact. They are patently calculated to intimidate – not just the six congresspersons in question but also, and even more importantly, anyone else who would have the temerity to question the legality of orders issued by this administration. They are a blatant attempt to suppress free speech in violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
On behalf of SCFA’s membership, on behalf of veterans and active duty personnel who are trying to serve their country honorably, and on behalf of the American people, who deserve a country governed in accordance with the Constitution and Laws of our great country, Senior Citizens of America applauds the statements respecting illegal orders recently made by members of congress and condemns the recent actions of the Trump administration made in response to those statements. We specifically call upon the administration to abandon its outrageous effort to try Senator Kelly and interview the six congresspersons. More generally, it is time for the President to end the administration’s unconstitutional conduct of our government and to restore our faith in America’s democracy.