Trump’s Iran Clock Is Ticking As Democrats Try To Make Moves Behind His Back

President Donald Trump gave the Iranian regime a deadline of 8 p.m. on Tuesday to reach a deal with the United States and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and a number of Democrats have spent the hours leading up to that deadline warning American service members to be wary of — or disregard — any potentially “illegal” orders.

Responding to Trump’s deadline — and his warning that “a whole civilization will die tonight” — Democrats quickly lined up to claim that the president was either not in full possession of his mental faculties or about to issue illegal orders to the United States military, if not both.

“This is a threat of genocide and merits removal from office. The President’s mental faculties are collapsing and cannot be trusted,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declared. “To every individual in the President’s chain of command: You have a duty to refuse illegal orders. That includes carrying out this threat.”

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) addressed his warning to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, saying, “The UCMJ and federal law prohibit war crimes. Striking civilian infrastructure that causes disproportionate civilian harm constitutes war crimes. You will disobey those illegal orders. If you commit war crimes, the next Administration will prosecute you.”

“These are not the words of a sane person,” Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) added. “Calling for the elimination of a civilization is a war crime. As I’ve repeatedly said, our military must only follow lawful orders. Every American of good conscience must repudiate this.”

Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) ignored the possibility that a bridge or power plant might be considered a military target if it was part of the necessary infrastructure sustaining and suppling the Iranian forces, and instead suggested that any attack on such infrastructure would necessarily be an attack on civilian populations.

“Threatening to target power plants and other non-military targets is not strength. If those words become orders to destroy civilian infrastructure with no valid military purpose, it’s hard to see how they would not violate the laws of armed conflict. America leads best with strength, discipline, and professionalism. Illegal orders to make civilians suffer would be a black mark on our military and our country,” Kelly said.

Democrats began warning American troops that “illegal” orders were a possibility — and were perhaps even to be expected — from President Donald Trump’s administration months earlier, when “The Seditious Six” published a video in response to a number of precision strikes on narco-terrorists. Led by Senators Kelly and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), the group called on members of the military to refuse “illegal” or “unlawful” orders while heavily insinuating that if Trump or War Secretary Pete Hegseth had not already given such orders, they were likely to do so.

Slotkin doubled down on Tuesday, posting, “I know that our service members up and down the chain of command know their duty and the law to refuse illegal orders. Even as the Commander-in-Chief tells the world otherwise. It’s moments like these that are why we made the video to service members last year. And I hope and believe our troops — especially those in command — will have the moral clarity to push back if they are given clearly illegal orders.”