Bradley Moss on Trump's unhinged (and legally bogus) threats
"At what point does he just become too much of an albatross around Republicans’ necks?"
It already feels like old news given how many outrageous things Donald Trump says and does on the regular, but it was barely two weeks ago that the president made his shocking call for a group of Democratic lawmakers to be put to death.
And what did those Democrats — a group of military and intelligence community veterans including Sens. Mark Kelly and Elisa Slotkin — do wrong?
Well, to hear Trump tell it, they committed “sedition” by taking part in a video addressed to active duty military and intelligence personnel reminding them of their obligation to refuse illegal orders. But the MAGA hysteria over the video died down quickly as news emerged of the military’s “double tap” strike against a “drug boat” in the Caribbean — an apparent crime that constitutes the exact sort of illegal order Democrats were warning about.
While nobody who isn’t guzzling MAGA Kool-Aid seriously believes that Kelly, Slotkin, and company did anything wrong, we decided to connect with someone who can explain not only the legalities involved but also the broader political context of Trump’s unhinged threats — Bradley Moss, a lawyer specializing in national security issues who has represented intelligence community whistleblowers and is a strident critic of Trump.
“The point is the specter of investigations, not to actually lock any of these people up,” Moss told us. “Candidly, I think there needs to be real pushback by some of these centrist Republicans, though I’m not expecting it. At least Murkowski spoke out against Trump targeting these Democrats. If you think they won’t come for you next, you’re just beyond delusional.
A transcript of the conversation between Moss and Public Notice contributor Thor Benson, lightly edited for length and clarity, follows. If you’d like to read it and aren’t yet a paid subscriber, please sign up. Not only does a paid subscription get you full access to everything we publish, but it also helps make our work possible.