Six Democrat congressmen recently released a video directed at members of the U.S. military and intelligence communities imploring them to “refuse illegal orders” from President Donald Trump. As former members of the military and intelligence community, they should be ashamed of themselves and retract their insubordinate, ignorant, and politically motivated diatribe. The video, posted earlier this week, was created by Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.; 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, D-Colo. One might expect that their military experience would make them more cautious, not less, about encouraging service members to reflexively doubt the legality of orders from America’s commander in chief. But that’s exactly what they did. “We know you are under enormous stress and pressure right now,” intoned Slotkin. “This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens,” Kelly, Slotkin, and Crow added.  Really? How? These claims are simply false, no matter how fearful the tone. Military recruiting and morale are at historic highs. If service members are truly under “enormous stress,” why are retention and recruitment numbers soaring? “Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution,” the congressmen contend in the video. “Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad but from right here at home.” Really? How exactly? They don’t say.  They add that the “laws are clear” that members of the military “can” and “must” refuse illegal orders and that no one has to carry out orders that “violate the law or our Constitution.”  Everyone in the military knows that, but what does that have to do with anything? Throughout the short video, they never mention a single Trump administration order—or even a policy area—which they believe violates the Constitution. This vagueness reveals the real purpose of the video—political theater and yet another example of Trump Derangement Syndrome Kelly claims “this administration is pitting” the military against citizens.” Where is that happening, because if it is, I’m against it too. Crickets. Is this about immigration enforcement? The deployment of National Guard troops to the border or in blue cities to assist federal immigration officers? They don’t say.  When Crow was interviewed by Fox News’ Martha McCallum about the video he participated in and asked what specific orders that Trump issued to the military that are illegal, Crow couldn’t name one.  The reality is that the military already has robust systems in place to handle questions about the legality of orders and uses that system every day. Service members are required to follow lawful orders. If they do not follow a lawful general order, or a specific order, they can—and often are—court-martialed under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for a violation of Article 92, Failure to Obey an Order or Regulation.  If or when they are in doubt about an order’s legality (a rarity), service members can—and do—consult with a uniformed lawyer, called a judge advocate general officer. I know, because I served as a Navy JAG for 30 years and retired as a two-time commanding officer with rank of captain.  The president doesn’t pick up the phone and call a service member and order him to carry out a mission. Military orders flow through multiple levels—from the president to the secretary of defense, through the joint chiefs, to combatant commanders, to senior officers and eventually to units and individual service members. At each level, uniformed lawyers review orders and establish standing rules of engagement and specific rules of engagement for a particular mission.  These congressmen know this, but that apparently didn’t matter to them.  Moreover, military personnel are already trained—and the Department of Defense Law of War manual clearly states—that military personnel have a duty not to comply with orders that are clearly illegal. History certainly provides instructive examples of genuinely unlawful orders. The My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War, where Army Lt. William Calley ordered his soldiers to kill unarmed civilians stands as a clear case where subordinates should have refused, as the order was patently unlawful under the laws of war and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.  If this video was produced by a bunch of rag tag college students or Marxist professors, no one would care. That’s not what happened here. These lawmakers’ actions and words undermine good order and discipline in the armed forces by encouraging U.S. military personnel to question the orders of the commander in chief of the armed forces for no good reason, based on nothing more than mere political disagreement. The video is full of dishonorable statements from people who should know better. By calling on service members to resist Trump’s orders, they are essentially asking military members to make political judgments about which policies to implement—a direct assault on civilian control of the military. The Democrat congressmen should withdraw the video and apologize. They are undermining the authority of the commander in chief of the armed forces—an authority constitutionally vested in the president. If anyone is violating their oath to “support and defend the Constitution,” it is them. Encouraging military personnel to disregard legitimate presidential authority based on unspecified, partisan grievances doesn’t protect the Constitution—it subverts it. The post Video Calling for Military to Ignore Orders From Commander in Chief Undermines Good Order and Discipline appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal. We’re hearing this epithet, invective, smear, slander, “Nazi, Nazi, Nazis, Hitler,” all the time now. We’re accustomed to it as conservatives. It seems almost every time there was a Republican president in office, the Left smeared him as a Nazi. Remember President George W. Bush? We were told by George Soros, the dean of the Yale Law School that he was Hitler-like, that he had Nazi propensities. I think a minister in the German government of Chancellor Angela Merkel called Bush a Nazi. And now with President Donald Trump, we hear that slander even more. What are Nazis? Nazi is referring to a political party between 1920 and 1945, just 25 years, that, in the ashes of the defeat of World War I and the Great Depression, it played on the fears of Germany and it created something called the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. Nazi, that’s the abbreviation. And its aim was to substitute nationalism and race for class, so they could compete effectively with communist socialists. So, they didn’t say, “We’re not socialists.” They said, “We are socialists, but we’re national socialists and we are, essentially, a big union of German workers and we believe in the singular racial purity and superiority of the German people. And we’re going to get back what we lost to the Depression and war, war costs that we had to pay for, remittances to the winning side, reparations, etc., and the loss of World War I and the humiliation that that incurred.” So, in that period, Adolf Hitler became their chief spokesman. He convinced the German people to go to war. They were successful between Sept. 1, 1939, until about 1943, when they literally took on the whole world, especially the United States and the Soviet Union, in addition to Britain and the defeated allies of Western Europe. They lost, but in the process, 70 million people were killed. And more importantly, in some sense, at least 6 million—I don’t mean more importantly in number of deaths, but in the intent. These were not part of the war dead. They were a systematic effort to destroy European Jewry, the Roma, and some Slavic people, 6 to 7 million of them. That was what Hitler did, and he justified that. So, ever since, that word “Hitler” or “Nazi” is equated with mass death. And nobody in the United States within the political realm ever praises Hitler or the Nazis in general. Indeed, we fought them and many of our grandparents died fighting them, victoriously so. So, what are we hearing? Mostly, it’s from the Left, Left, Left. They call everyone Hitler. They’ve called Trump every aspect of Hitler, a Nazi. We hear it all the time. But what’s new now is that there is a small segment on the right that, while not proclaiming to be Nazis, of course, or Hitler, they are referring to World War II in general and specific aspects of Nazism and Hitlerism, not in a negative sense. Most notoriously, Nick Fuentes has recently said that he had admired Hitler and he admired some of the things the Nazis had done. There are revisionist historians on the right that have been showcased who think that it was a mistake of the United States to fight Hitler in World War II, that Josef Stalin was the greater peril. But they go beyond that. And to make that revisionist case, which is hard to make, if not impossible, they have to demonize the heroes of the Allied movement, from Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt to Winston Churchill. So, what am I getting at? For the first time in all of our lives, we are seeing people openly, overtly—not very many, but they have a larger audience, it seems, every couple of months—who defend Nazism and the horrors that followed from Adolf Hitler’s career. And so, it’s very incumbent upon us that we know what the Nazis were, when they rose, what they caused, how we defeated them, and how an American elected president or mainstream political figures, even if we don’t agree with them, are not Nazis, are not Hitler-like. That is a given. That’s what we assume, but we have never in our lives seen anybody speak of Nazis, except maybe the Ku Klux Klan or the American Nazi Party, in favorable terms, or at least non-judgmentally. We are now. It has to be stopped, condemned, so that this does not become an orthodoxy on the right. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Don’t Ignore This—Hitler Revisionism Is Growing Online appeared first on The Daily Signal.

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is making good on President Donald Trump’s promise to give $10,000 bonuses to air traffic controllers who continued to show up to work during the 43-day government shutdown. Duffy and Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Bryan Bedford will award 776 air traffic controllers and technicians a $10,000 award for their unpaid work during the shutdown. The money will come from “operating funds.” “These patriotic men and women never missed a beat and kept the flying public safe throughout shutdown,” Duffy said. “Democrats may not care about their financial well-being, but President Trump does. This award is an acknowledgement of their dedication and a heartfelt appreciation for going above and beyond in service to the nation.” The award will be sent to employees who maintained perfect attendance during the shutdown. Recipients will receive an automated notification during the week of Nov. 24. Recipients will receive their payment no later than Dec. 9. Trump first floated the idea Nov. 10 on Truth Social, saying, “All Air Traffic Controllers must get back to work, NOW!!! Anyone who doesn’t will be substantially ‘docked.'” “For those Air Traffic Controllers who were GREAT PATRIOTS, and didn’t take ANY TIME OFF for the ‘Democrat Shutdown Hoax,’ I will be recommending a BONUS of $10,000 per person for distinguished service to our Country.” “For those that did nothing but complain, and took time off, even though everyone knew they would be paid, IN FULL, shortly into the future, I am NOT HAPPY WITH YOU,” the president added. Due to insufficient staffing at airports during the shutdown, Duffy reduced flight capacity by 10% at 40 major airports. Duffy said some air traffic controllers had to work 10-hour days, six days per week during the shutdown. “That pressure on the controllers were giving us numbers that were not troubling, but were concerning. So my job is to be preemptive,” he said. Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also announced $10,000 bonuses for Transportation Security Administration workers who provided “exemplary” service during the shutdown. The post EXCLUSIVE: Trump Awards Massive Checks to Air Traffic Controllers Who Worked in Shutdown appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its information on the potential link between autism and vaccines, no longer ruling out the possibility of causation.   “We (HHS) are updating the CDC’s website to reflect gold standard, evidence-based science,” Health and Human Services Press Secretary Emily Hilliard told The Daily Signal.  On Wednesday, the CDC updated its page titled “Autism and Vaccines.” The website now includes three key points:   The claim “vaccines do not cause autism” is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.   Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.  HHS has launched a comprehensive assessment of the causes of autism, including investigations on plausible biologic mechanisms and potential causal links.  ROBERT KENNEDY: 'The Department of Health and Human Services Will Act on Acetaminophen'@RobertKennedyJr announces that cases of autism are linked to pharmaceutical products that contain acetaminophen, which is prevalent in Tylenol, when taken during pregnancy. Additionally, the… pic.twitter.com/vHr1wqwzYB— The Daily Signal (@DailySignal) September 22, 2025 The Department of Health and Human Services, led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., oversees the CDC. Kennedy, who joined President Donald Trump to lead the Make America Healthy Again movement, is widely known for questioning the vaccine schedule.   “News reports have claimed that I am anti-vaccine or anti-industry. I am neither. I am pro-safety,” Kennedy said in January during his opening statement before the Senate Finance Committee.   “Secretary Kennedy has launched a comprehensive review of autism’s causes, including investigations into environmental and biologic factors, with an emphasis on transparency, reproducibility, and gold-standard science,” said Hilliard. “The CDC’s site updates are part of that broader effort to ensure all public-facing information reflects ongoing scientific inquiry.”  .@SecKennedy: “We’re losing a whole generation to addiction and mental health illness and it’s not necessary…It’s a priority for us.” pic.twitter.com/6khlFBo49L— HHS Rapid Response (@HHSResponse) November 18, 2025 Jay Richards, director and senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, explained the change in comments to The Daily Signal. “For years, the CDC has misrepresented what is known, and not known, about the connection between an ever-expanding childhood vaccine schedule and the massive surge in autism,” Richards told The Daily Signal. “In reality, public health agencies including the CDC have generally avoided conducting studies that could definitively answer that question. With these changes, the CDC has finally corrected this error.” “The CDC should not be in the business of preventing vaccine hesitancy,” he added. “It should be in the business of discovering and reporting the truth, no matter how inconvenient. I’m hopeful that these official language changes at the CDC website will be followed by a serious effort at both the CDC and HHS more broadly to follow the evidence on the autism question wherever it leads.”   Now that America has removed mercury from all vaccines, I call on every global health authority to do the same — to ensure that no child, anywhere in the world, is ever exposed to this deadly neurotoxin again. pic.twitter.com/LYitY3PfRc— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) November 3, 2025 The post Do Vaccines Cause Autism? CDC Moves From Denial to Doubt   appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., faces a House Ethics Committee investigation following the introduction of a censure resolution by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., on Wednesday that was ultimately referred to the committee. In a Nov. 19 press release, the Ethics Committee’s chairman and ranking member said they would look into whether Mills had broken the law or otherwise violated standards of conduct. The release specifically cited “allegations that [Mills] may have: (1) failed to properly disclose required information on statements required to be filed with the House; (2) violated campaign finance laws and regulations in connection with his 2022 and 2024 election campaigns; (3) improperly solicited and/or received gifts, including in connection with privately sponsored officially-connected travel; (4) received special favors by virtue of his position; (5) engaged in misconduct with respect to allegations of sexual misconduct and/or dating violence; and/or (6) misused congressional resources or status.” Mills, who represents Florida’s 7th congressional district, has denied committing any wrong. The Army veteran of the Iraq war first joined the House of Representatives in 2023 after a successful business career in the defense industry where he co-founded companies that provided risk management and security services. On Wednesday, Mace had introduced a resolution to censure Mills and strip him of his assignments on the House Committee on Armed Services and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. The House ended up voting by a margin of 310 to 103 to avoid an up or down vote on the resolution by referring it to the House Ethics Committee.  Some Republicans have blamed Mills’ alleging political maneuvering behind the scenes for the House’s failure Tuesday to censure Virgin Islands Delegate Stacey Plaskett over her texts with Jeffrey Epstein during a congressional hearing. Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., posted on X after the Tuesday night vote on Plaskett that “A handful of Republicans took a dive on a vote to strip Stacy [sic] Plaskett of her position on House intel because of her ties to Epstein. They did it to protect a Republican facing his own ethics issues from a similar vote. This backroom deal s*** is swampy, wrong and always deserves to be called out.” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., appeared to agree writing on X, “The Plaskett censure failed because house leadership exchanged that censure failure for the withdrawal of a vote to censure and refer Cory Mills to house ethics for investigation. The swamp protects itself.” Mills for his part denied participating in any backroom deal to avoid being punished by the chamber, stating on social media that he had expected to have a vote on his censure brought to the floor on Tuesday, which was also the day of the Plaskett vote. “There was no backroom deal, no negotiation, and no quid pro quo of any kind that would’ve forced the Democrats to stand down that vote against me,” Mills said in a statement, adding, “Anyone pushing that narrative is just wrong.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who has been unafraid to criticize Republican leadership in recent months along with fellow Republican lawmaker Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., decried the decision to refer the censure resolution to the House Ethics Committee. “Tonight I voted NO to refer the Cory Mills censure resolution to Ethics Committee because the House should vote yes or no to censure Cory Mills not continue to protect their own in secret committees,” Greene wrote on X. The Daily Signal has reached out to Mills’ office for comment. The House Committee on Ethics declined to comment. The post House Ethics Committee Announces It Is Investigating Congressman Cory Mills appeared first on The Daily Signal.