Lemon Drop | Pete Hegseth Is Punishing a Senator for Telling the Military to Follow the Law
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What triggered Pete Hegseth to start proceedings against Senator Mark Kelly?
Okay, I want you to take a look at this headline and look at this is Pete Hegseth of all people. I thought it was like a headline from The Onion. Starts proceedings against Kelly, Senator Mark Kelly. I think he wants to censure him. I mean, well, I know he wants to censure him over what happened. You know, that video of the Democratic lawmakers saying that you don't have to follow unlawful orders, which is true, which is something that they hear every single day, which is in the military code of ethics or justice or whatever it is, right? Okay, so again, in the Washington Post, Hegseth announces censure and demotion of Kelly. And then Hegseth tweets it. Look, all right, so look, let's talk about this because the more I read about it, the more ridiculous I think it gets.
The person who is deciding to lecture America about honor, about discipline and patriotism, Pete Hegseth? Hegseth, the guy who runs, who is the Secretary of State, who runs the Defense Department, now the War Department, and the person he's targeting is Mark Kelly. Mark Kelly is a true hero. If this were satire, it would be rejected for being too on the nose. People would say, oh, this is too on the nose. We're going to talk about who has a standing to scold someone about service to this country. We should probably start with one basic question. Who actually served? Who actually sacrificed? Who actually put skin in the game? That would be Mark Kelly. So let's start with Mark Kelly. He flew combat missions.
for the United States Navy. Yes, the Navy. He commanded troops. He served this country in uniform and then he went to space. Multiple times. Pete Heck said, shut up. Then he came back and he ran for office.
What did Mark Kelly and other lawmakers say about refusing unlawful orders?
And then he watched his wife survive an assassination attempt. And Martin Kelly just kept showing up and doing the job. He wasn't drunk. Allegedly, like Pete Hexeth was, didn't have a drinking problem like it has been said that Pete Hexeth has. So Mark Kelly is not doing some branding. He's not like doing some cable news cosplay, which Pete Hexeth would know about. He's actually had a life of service. And now this man is being censured by the Pentagon for reminding service members of something that they are legally required to know and legally required to do. that they swear an oath to the Constitution about, that they are obligated to refuse illegal orders. That's it. That's it. Here's just a small sampling of the thing that got Pete Hegseth and MAGA so outraged.
Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders. You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders. That's it? That's the offense? Now contrast that with Pete Hegseth. Pete Hegseth's primary qualification for the job is that he yelled competently on television for a long time. That's not an insult. I don't think it's an insult, I think that's just a fact. His career has been built on vibes, on outrage, on performative patriotism, on wrapping himself in the flag, and he accuses everyone else of being un-American. Yeah, he served, but his resume, his service is nowhere near Senator Mark Kelly's. He's not even qualified to be the secretary of defense. He's not qualified to be the secretary of war.
He's not qualified to be the secretary of, I don't know, anything. The secretary of getting pencil sharpened. And now that guy is the one deciding who gets punished for supposedly undermining good order and discipline? Come on. Do you guys remember during his confirmation process, all of the things that came out about him? The things, some of which he confirmed and said that he wasn't a perfect man and he apologized for and his wife stayed with him and all of these things, all of these indiscretions, personal and professional indiscretions. You don't need a law degree to see the problem here. You just need a memory. You just need eyes, and you need to be objective. You don't have to have MAGA-coated eyes.
Well, if you do, you should get the mask off of your eyes or whatever it is. Because Pete Hexeth himself has talked repeatedly about the duty to refuse illegal orders.
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