A President Who Wants Political Enemies Dead

Trump’s Truth Social outburst demanding death for six Democrats shows the authoritarian threat is no longer theoretical — it’s here.

By David Shuster

As I write this column, I am boiling over with anger and contempt: not merely at Donald Trump, but at the terrifying spectacle of all the people in our nation who are still willing to tolerate him.

Trump has gone beyond erratic demagogue. He has now degenerated into a buffoon king with the temperament of a toddler and the moral compass of a bloodthirsty psychopath.

On this day, Donald Trump stooped to a new low so appalling that even his most ardent White House enablers and Congressional sycophants are squirming.

Trump labeled Six democratic members of Congress (two democratic Senators and four democratic house members) “traitors” and demanded they be “ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL” — and then Trump declared their actions “punishable by DEATH.”

Let that sink in: the President of the United States, the man sworn to uphold ad protect the Constitution, is publicly associating with calls for political murder — not figurative murder, but the very real incitement of execution.

This is not a mere policy squabble. The six lawmakers — veterans and national-security professionals — released a solemn video message to members of the U.S. military: “You can refuse illegal orders … You must refuse illegal orders.”

The lawmakers were not fomenting violence; they were reminding Americans in uniform of their highest duty: fidelity to the Constitution.

What does Trump do? He melts down on Truth Social, shrieking that their statement is “seditious behavior at the highest level” and that “an example MUST BE SET.” Then Trump escalates by sharing posts calling for the lawmakers to be punished by hanging.

Since the beginning of this great American experiment and continuing through this day, countless cynics have described our democracy as a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. By that measure, Trump’s rise and power are a grim joke.

But the most recent Trump declarations are not humor. They are a threat. They are not just the rantings of a madman. They are the manifesto of a man who seeks to be an authoritarian strongman.

It is not enough for us to merely deplore and condemn this behavior. We must act. The House of Representatives — if it has any spine — must immediately begin impeachment proceedings. The Senate — to salvage whatever remains of its institutional credibility — must convict and expel this malignant farce from the Presidency.

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Why? Because we are now witnessing the collapse of the most basic restraint the Framers built into our system: the idea that even the highest officer in the land, the President, must respect due process, uphold the law, and refrain from lethal vendettas. The founders gave us impeachment precisely for this kind of moral and constitutional crisis.

I get that some MAGA lawmakers are already excusing Trump’s incitement and are lying about the Democrats’ video.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said it was “dangerous for leading members of Congress to tell troops to disobey orders.” Johnson knows that’s not what the democrats said. The Democrats told the troops to disobey UNLAWFUL orders.”

Countless conservative legal analysts agree with the Democrats’ somber message. Ed Whelan, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center wrote, “disobeying an unlawful order is required.”

Fox News legal analyst Andrew McCarthy wrote that even if an order is lawful and it is disobeyed it is not sedition. He wrote, “Disobeying a lawful order is insubordination, not insurrection or sedition. Disobeying an unlawful order is required.”

There are some Democrats who will oppose impeachment for pure political reasons. If Trump sticks around, the Democrats are headed towards landslide victories in the midterm elections.

But that calculation is not worth the price of allowing a President so contemptuous of democratic norms and so lavish in his threats to remain in power. No legislative victory, no policy focus can compensate for a President who openly fantasizes about executing his political adversaries.

Let’s be clear. This is not politics-as-usual. This is not a mere Trump rhetorical slip or unfortunate hyperbole. This is a watershed moment. If we accept this without consequence, we all but guarantee that the next escalation — or the one after that — will be worse.

Donald Trump’s Presidency has been a disgrace from the start. Every word, every deed, every breath he has taken has been in service of his self-interest, his ego, and his vendettas.

But we now have a moment so clear, so morally and legally wrong, that to fail to act would be a betrayal to everything America and our constitution stand for.

So, let Congress do its job. Let the House draw up the articles. Let the Senate vote to convict. Remove this would-be executioner from office — today — before Trump normalizes and further encourages political murder.

History will judge us. Our democracy demands acts of bravery. We cannot wait any longer.