A group of Democrat lawmakers with military and intelligence backgrounds released a video Tuesday urging service members to “refuse illegal orders,” a message conservatives blasted as a call to defy President Donald Trump and his Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
The one-minute video, posted by Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and viewed more than 1.6 million times, features six lawmakers invoking their prior service while telling members of the military and intelligence community that “the threats to our Constitution are coming from right here at home.”
Slotkin and her colleagues have spent recent weeks introducing legislation to limit President Trump’s ability to deploy National Guard members domestically or launch military action against narcoterrorists without congressional approval
None of that context appears in the video, titled “Don’t Give Up the Ship,” which instead frames the appeal as a warning to military members to “stand up for our laws” and “refuse unlawful orders.”
Conservative accounts countered the viral clip, citing military law and interpreting the call to action as an alleged appeal to commit treason against the United States.
“Elected Democrats just released a video encouraging members of the military to commit treason and defy orders from Trump and Hegseth,” wrote the conservative account Libs of TikTok.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., added: “At the end of the day, they’re mad the American people chose Trump and now they’re calling on the Military and Intelligence Community to intervene. Sounds a little ‘subversive to democracy’-ish.”
The Department of War directed Fox News Digital to Hegseth’s response, which simply read, “Stage 4 TDS,” referring to “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Slotkin’s “No Troops in Our Streets Act,” detailed in a Nov. 13 release, would give Congress the power to block National Guard deployments inside American cities. President Trump has expanded National Guard operations to Los Angeles, Portland and Chicago amid violent crime.
Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., simultaneously introduced a War Powers Continuing Resolution on Tuesday to block the president from ordering strikes on drug traffickers in the Caribbean—actions Crow described in a release as “unauthorized and illegal.”
Both Democrats argue their bills are about asserting congressional authority, not politics. The viral video shared Tuesday, set to triumphant music, does not explicitly mention either piece of legislation.
Lawmakers appearing in the video include Slotkin, Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.; Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Pa.; Rep. Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H.; Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa.; and Rep. Jason Crow. Several recite a version of the line: “You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders.”
The branches and agencies represented among the lawmakers include the Army, Navy, Air Force and Central Intelligence Agency.
“Some in the administration and media are actively working to distort that message into something dark or divisive,” Houlahan said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Let me be absolutely clear: there is nothing more patriotic, nothing more stabilizing and nothing more true to the rule of law than reminding our military of their constitutional obligations and reassuring them that, if they are ever given an unlawful order, they do not have to carry it out.”
“‘Don’t Give Up the Ship’ is not a slogan of rebellion—it is a historic naval motto that has always stood for steadfastness, duty and loyalty to country. That is the backbone of American civil-military tradition,” she added.
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The video follows a 43-day government shutdown during which American troops continued receiving pay under the Trump administration.
The White House, Slotkin, Kelly, Deluzio, Goodlander and Crow did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday evening approved a spending package to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, despite opposition from Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and most House Democrats.
Lawmakers voted 222 to 209 to reopen the government, with six Democrats breaking ranks to support the measure. The White House said President Donald Trump will promptly sign the bill into law.
The Democrats who voted in favor were Reps. Jared Golden of Maine, Adam Gray of California, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, Don Davis of North Carolina, and Tom Suozzi of New York,
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a fiscal conservative, voted against the government funding package. He was joined by Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), who opposed the bill due to a provision allowing senators to sue the federal government if their phone records are seized without prior notice.“I’m not gonna send [Republican South Carolina Sen.] Lindsey Graham half a million dollars,” Steube told reporters before he voted.
The 43-day government shutdown left hundreds of thousands of federal employees without pay while still requiring them to cover their bills, disrupted access to federal food assistance for low-income Americans, and caused widespread travel delays across the country.
The Senate passed the spending package Monday night, ending weeks of gridlock after Democrats delayed action on funding the government for nearly seven weeks.
The funding agreement notably excludes Democrats’ top demand — a guaranteed extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits — which Republicans had rejected as a nonstarter.
Both Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer opposed the measure, which ultimately passed both chambers after several Democrats broke ranks to support it.
While Jeffries has largely avoided criticism over the party’s handling of the shutdown, Schumer has faced sharp backlash from progressives for failing to maintain unity within his caucus and for allowing the government to reopen without securing key Democratic priorities.
The deal will keep the government funded through the end of January and includes tens of millions of dollars in new security assistance for all three branches of government. It also requires the Trump administration to rehire roughly 4,000 federal employees laid off during the shutdown and prohibits additional reductions-in-force (RIFs) until Jan. 30, the outlet reported.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended that aspect of the deal when she was asked about it on Wednesday.
“If you look at that [the recent layoffs] in comparison to the reduction in the federal workforce that this administration has done since January … to reduce the size of our federal bureaucracy, we’ve done a lot of great work on that front. And we will continue to,” she told the Daily Caller.
“The president’s main priority was to reopen the federal government and get people back to work,” Leavitt added.
Jeffries and nearly all members of his caucus voted against a stopgap spending bill on Sept. 19 that would have averted the government shutdown. House Speaker Mike Johnson kept the chamber in recess throughout the funding lapse until the Senate approved a similar measure Monday night.
“The long national nightmare is almost coming to an end now,” Johnson told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday. “The irony is it really was a shutdown about nothing…what we’re voting on is effectively exactly what we offered them several weeks back.”
“I don’t think Chuck Schumer got anything out of this other than a political show,” Johnson continued. “And sadly, I think that’s what he was after the whole time.”
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.)