THE AMERICAN POSEIDON ADVENTURE

What the Trump administration is doing to Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona is shameful.

Sen. Kelly is a decorated U.S. Navy aviator who flew combat missions and later commanded NASA Space Shuttle missions. He is a national hero, someone who repeatedly risked his life in service to the United States, now being targeted by a cowardly five-time draft dodger.

Kelly’s wife, former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, survived an assassination attempt while serving in office and continues to live with the lifelong consequences of that attack. Yet Trump and his so-called Secretary of Defense have chosen to punish Sen. Kelly by reducing his rank in retirement, cutting his earned income in what can only be understood as political retaliation.

Kelly, along with two other veterans, recently posted a video reminding military personnel that following illegal orders is itself a crime under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). That reminder was neither radical nor unlawful. It was a straightforward statement of settled military law. Kelly spoke out because he objected to how Trump has conducted drug-enforcement operations, including the destruction of small boats and the killing of their occupants.

The immediate context was a September U.S. military strike on one such boat that left two people alive in the water. A second strike was then ordered, killing those two individuals. Many legal experts believe that action may constitute a war crime, as the individuals were no longer an active threat. Notably, the UCMJ itself uses a nearly identical scenario as an example of an illegal order.

This behavior is not new. It echoes the contempt Trump showed toward Senator John McCain, another war hero. Trump has no respect for service, sacrifice, or duty, because he lacks self-respect. Someone with no moral bottom can behave this way only because they have no self-respect left to lose.

Trump’s personal history bears this out. He is a failed businessman who survived only because of his father’s money and a reality-television platform. Contractors, vendors, and lawyers stopped doing business with him because he didn’t pay his bills. After his casinos, airline, football team, university, and other ventures collapsed, he became a cash-up-front customer. That same recklessness is now being imposed on the nation.

As Trump trashes and threatens our allies, they are already looking elsewhere for trade and security partnerships. A Bloomberg report noted that Trump’s erratic tariffs and hostility toward allies have blunted U.S. economic opportunities while helping spur growth among those same allies, without us.

On January 6, the fifth anniversary of Trump’s seditious assault on Congress, we should pause and reflect. As Special Counsel Jack Smith testified, the evidence showed beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump was responsible for the riot and for the deaths and damage that followed. Yet Trump shamefully pardoned those who beat police officers, while treating American heroes like Sen. Kelly as disposable. A Republican Congress remains silent.

The rest of the world is watching. Allies are recalculating. Adversaries are waiting. And America’s credibility is being squandered in full view.

RESIST!!! & EDUCATE!!!