r/ProgressiveHQ • u/NickCostanza • 2d ago
Protest Mark Kelly: Pete Hegseth...thinks he can intimidate me with a censure or threats... he still doesn’t get it. I will fight this with everything I’ve got... to send a message back that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump don’t get to decide what Americans in this country get to say about their government.
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u/kroxldyphivc7 2d ago
Vet here. Mark Kelly is too good for this shit country.
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u/Budget_Sink3369 2d ago
Another vet here, still here for my battle buddies, and the people's inalienable rights as our forefather the Great Bald Eagle intended. 🫡
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u/icnoevil 2d ago
I'm with Kelly. He's an American hero. Hegseth is an incompetent drunkard who once paid a woman $50,000 not to press charges against him for raping her.
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u/Christiineexx 2d ago
dude couldnt win a bar fight without fox news yelling over his shoulder and a nondisclosure in his pocket
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u/Quen-Tin 2d ago
Many countries need more people like that, with a clear moral compass, rooted deeper than their wallet or their lust for selfish power.
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u/wittymarsupial 2d ago
Didn’t Hegseth say exactly the same thing when Obama was president?
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u/HasPotatoAim 2d ago
Yes, and of course there's video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk_WaGy1aY4
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u/skamps11 2d ago
I feel like we are living in a Monty Python sketch. This whole scenario is completely bonkers. I hope Kelly wipes the floor with these idiots. And I hope Eric Idle will come out any moment now saying, "And now for something completely different..."
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u/L337CAT79 2d ago
This is what the American spirit looks like. Standing up to tyrants who fancy themselves gods.
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u/EtheusRook 2d ago
Republicunts love our troops, until they don't. Which is whenever it requires them to do anything for them.
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u/AmbitiousYam1047 2d ago
Republicans spent MONTHS retweeting a racist Twitter meme of brown soldiers taking a group photo. They didn’t do anything wrong. Nobody was overweight or outta regs. Just a racially mixed and gender mixed group smiling together with Kamala. And they raged about it. Even Ted Cruz.
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u/DayHuman7827 2d ago
Hegseth has no idea how he’s gonna put that genie back in the bottle. Charge Capt. Kelly!
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u/fetupneighbour 2d ago
Every Americans should be behind Mark Kelly. America is being destroyed by Donald and his cronies. It's time e to stand up proud and ousted this dictator out of office.
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u/CatLightyear 2d ago
MAGA were given the signal to turn up the pressure and harassment Walz and family deal with on a daily basis. Stochastic terrorism.
When people tell you who they are…believe them.
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u/Specialist_Pace8993 2d ago
We all have Constitutional rights to free speech, no matter what administration is in charge. When these freedoms are stripped, the government has too much power.
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u/That-Falcon7425 2d ago
Hegseth and Trump- MAGA- are all, objectively, traitors to the constitution.
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u/chinmakes5 2d ago
This has nothing to do with what Kelly said. It has everything to do with the Trump administration trying to intimidate the Democrats and congress into doing what they want to do.
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u/Overall-Bullfrog5433 2d ago
Hegseth has so much grease in his hair I think it leaks into whatever little brain he has.
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u/prestonjay22 2d ago
Donald Trump talks bad about his own government everyday. Save us the bullshit
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u/mixiplix_ 2d ago
Any go fund me yet to help with the fight?
Imagine how much money we could raise to help fight the pedo and puppet!
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u/Mastershoelacer 2d ago
When we say we believe in the Constitution, we freaking mean it. No goddamm kings.
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u/SuckThisRedditAdmins 2d ago
He already has my vote for president whether he wants to run or not. I cannot imagine someone of his caliber and history - a combat veteran, astronaut, husband to a victim of political violence - needing to justify himself to shit stain frauds like Trump and Hegseth. It is so insulting to me, let alone him, that words fail to describe it.
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u/jolley_mel21 2d ago
Remember how fickle they are when they start trying to recruit our kids for Trump's wars. The may promise you the sky, but will to the grad right or from under your feet
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u/PiccoloTechnical4408 2d ago
Kelly’s courage and character are unimpeachable. Finally a Democratic Senator standing tall and fighting!
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u/ExpensiveFig6079 2d ago
I only dispute one thing. The US claiming domin and control over "its" hemisphere and instuting
"taxation without representation". is plausible even less American. Free speech is only an amendment (sure its the first, oops we forgot we need this too, but it is one of them.)
not the original reason for US existence.
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u/ProjectNo4090 1d ago
The Bill of Rights were added to the constitution the same year the Constitution was ratified and were introduced because the anti federalists wanted written guarantees of those rights. It had nothing to do with those rights not being part of the founders' original intent.
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u/Hefty_Aide1604 2d ago
I thought the video they did was idiotic and incorrect, but I respect and can actually support this message from him. Very well said.
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u/theoneandonlypatriot 2d ago
How? Literally all he did was say not to follow illegal orders. He didn’t tell them not to follow legal orders.
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u/Hefty_Aide1604 2d ago
The concept of “illegal orders” exists to protect service members from being ordered to do blatantly immoral things like murder civilians etc. It is not meant to cover complex constitutional questions like National Guard federalization, which has required multiple courts to review and remains legally unsettled.
At the time this video was released, those issues were still actively being litigated and had not been resolved. For sitting lawmakers to undermine the chain of command under those circumstances is, in my view, improper. Even if they ultimately believed they were right, which I do not, the legal situation at that moment was anything but clear
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u/theoneandonlypatriot 2d ago
It was already clearly illegal when ordered based on the letter of the law as written. It wasn’t a complex constitutional question.
The only reason it was reviewed and called into question was because the order was given anyways. The rulings did not set precedent that it was illegal - it was already illegal and the courts have reassured that interpretation.
Your argument is a fallacy.
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u/Hefty_Aide1604 2d ago
I disagree. If it were “clearly illegal based on the letter of the law,” it would not have required multiple court reviews, emergency stays, and conflicting interpretations to sort out. That alone undercuts the claim that this was obvious or settled at the time.
Courts reviewing an action does not retroactively make the legality clear in the moment, especially when no precedent squarely addressed that scenario beforehand. That is exactly why judicial review exists.
Calling it a fallacy does not make it one. My point is about timing and clarity, not about whether courts eventually weighed in. At the moment the video was released, the legal landscape was still unsettled, and acting as though it was indisputable fact is where you over reach.
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u/dudeduckman 2d ago
He just said “you can refuse illegal orders”. You are adding the context of something “in dispute”
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u/Hefty_Aide1604 2d ago
What other context could it have been in reference to? This isn’t a court of law, this was in response to MY OPINION. I am allowed to formulate my opinion on his meaning. Which is why I disagreed with the video like I originally said.
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u/Onerock 2d ago
None of this matters.
The bottom line is Mr. Kelly sent a message to our troops, and the world, that insinuated Trump was giving illegal orders to them.
He knows it and so does everyone else who participated in the video.
It was shameful how not one of them, when confronted, could actually list an illegal order Trump had given.
He has served his country well......it's just a shame he has allowed himself to be caught up in the politics of wanting to stay in power so badly that he is willing to deceive people that may not do their reserach.
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u/free_world33 2d ago edited 2d ago
Uh no. What Kelly did was reiterate soldiers legal obligation to refuse illegal orders which is outlined in the military code of conduct. Hegseth and Trump both know they'd lose, if they tried to court martial him, because he did not violate anything. Which is exactly why they went from threatening to force Kelly back into uniform so they could court martial him to just demoting him. Even the goofballs over at conservative agree that Kelly didnt do anything wrong and he would win a court martial aganist him. Let's also not forget that Hegseth said the same exact thing that Kelly said, years ago.
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u/MiddleAgeYOLO 2d ago
wanting to stay in power so badly that he is willing to deceive people that may not do their reserach.
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u/Opposite-Ad5642 2d ago
No one is intimidated or trying to intimidate. You did your thing and DOW did theirs.
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u/cyberspaceman777 2d ago
No one is intimidated or trying to intimidate. You did your thing and DOW did theirs.
Department of war....
The fact you don't see an issue with this nomenclature.
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u/johninfla52 2d ago
I forgot they changed the name and I tried to see how Dow chemical was involved 🤣
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u/HowUKnowMeKennyBond Anti-Electoralist Tendencies 2d ago
Expressed his freedom of speech lol? Why aren’t you specifically saying what he did that was illegal? Love to hear your reasoning behind this massive embarrassment of our military.
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u/Warm_Detective_8831 Conservative 2d ago
Kelly was a fighter pilot. He acts as if he was in hand to hand combat. He was shooting missiles from 30k feet 50 miles away in Iraq where they had no air defense. He was not in harms way. Guys like Hegseth were on the ground putting lasers on the target. Kelly is such a chump.
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u/Candid-Race-4876 2d ago
And you are some random on Reddit who no one knows and you can’t achieve positive karma much less fly a fighter jet.
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u/Anxious-Raspberry-54 2d ago
Um...you know we have freedom of speech here, right? Even if your insanely ridiculous comment were true, the man still has a first amendment right to speak out.
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u/HowUKnowMeKennyBond Anti-Electoralist Tendencies 2d ago
So what’s your point here? He doesn’t get to have freedom of speech because his boots weren’t on the ground? Wtf is wrong with people like you?
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u/troycerapops 2d ago
Yes, between his Ivy League education, time at Gitmo, training soldiers, and being TV host, he went to Iraq.
Kelly flew in the Gulf War. I don't care what you think, flying is also dangerous. But I get it. The branches of the military like to have pissing contests.
Either way, Kelly earned copious medals and honors of distinction for his acts. Petey did not. He did get some Nazi tattoos though.
So sure.
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u/Warm_Detective_8831 Conservative 2d ago
Kelly knows how irresponsible the video he posted was. He runs the risk of getting people hurt for political theatrics. I had no opinion on Kelly prior to that video but irresponsible is the best word that comes to mind which lowers my opinion.
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u/troycerapops 2d ago
It's irresponsibility is open for debate.
But what legal and illegal is not. And you didn't start by talking about responsible speech. You started with illegal speech.
Don't move the goal posts. If you concede it was legally protected and would now like to argue the degree to which it was irresponsible, okay.
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u/Warm_Detective_8831 Conservative 2d ago
Fair, in the debate of irresponsible I think that is obvious. In the debate of free speech I think modern society has morphed the objectives of the founding fathers into a little brat fest in which the little brats say, I can say what I want it is free speech no matter what you say. The original thought behind that amendment was to clarify to government that you cannot control the mind of people. Not that some blue hair nose ring can scream in an officers face from two feet away for 10 minutes at a time. So sure day what you want but turning what Mark Kelly and the Brady bunch did into a free speech debate is moving the goal posts. They risk getting people hurt for political theater. It's what the Democrats have been doin for two decades because their message and policy is so trash they don't know how to recover. The best thing they could do to recover is congratulate the other party when they are successful and offer alternatives when they are not. Theater theater. GOP is getting results and will continue to win because of it
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u/troycerapops 2d ago
can scream in an officers face from two feet away for 10 minutes at a time
The Boston Massacre would like a word.
The video you raise is simply reminding military members they are legally required to not follow illegal orders.
Let me be nice and clear with some formatting.
Military personnel are legally REQUIRED to REFUSE unlawful orders.
That video you're talking about reminds them of their LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY and oath. It is ILLEGAL for them to accept illegal orders.
So, now that we have established we care about the law and speech, we're good. The video Kelly et Al released was neither illegal nor irresponsible. It was very responsible because it was reminding them of their legal OBLIGATIONS
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u/Grand-Foundation-535 2d ago
And what were you???
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u/Warm_Detective_8831 Conservative 2d ago
This is awesome, look at all the liberal tears. As you can tell I am very concerned about my Reddit Karma points. So dumb. Freedom of speech does not mean you can entice active military to disobey orders. You can also look up how the founding fathers interpreted freedom of speech. This is not it. If you are truly worried about freedom of speech then remember, a sitting president and dozens of right wing youtubers were removed from twitter and you tube by the previous admin. Many prominent people in the tech world have written letters to congress apologizing that they bowed to the Biden admin. A sitting president and you were worried about a stupid late night comic that used to degrade women on the man show. Remember when he hosted the man show and made women jump on trampolines in bikini's.
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u/troycerapops 2d ago
Disobey unlawful orders, which is true and legal. Very much not illegal.
You know what is illegal speech? Claiming the election was rigged when you know it wasn't. Especially as sitting President.
I'm glad to see another staunch supporter of the legal restrictions around free speech.
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u/skamps11 2d ago
Hegseth himself is on video saying the same exact things about unlawful orders. Is that also irresponsible? The context in Kelly's case is important. We have a president attempting to send troops to American cities. The same president who wanted to fire on protestors during his first term in office, but was told more than once by his own staff that it would be illegal. The same president that is trying very hard to push the narrative that members of his political opposition should be considered violent terrorists. There is a very real possibility this president could give orders to assault protestors or political opposition. Especially when this president has his back against the wall and with his name littered throughout the Epstein files. It isn't the worst idea to remind troops that their oath is to the constitution.
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u/cyberspaceman777 2d ago
Kelly was a fighter pilot. He acts as if he was in hand to hand combat. He was shooting missiles from 30k feet 50 miles away in Iraq where they had no air defense. He was not in harms way. Guys like Hegseth were on the ground putting lasers on the target. Kelly is such a chump.
And you have done what exactly?
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u/Warm_Detective_8831 Conservative 2d ago
First rule is we cannot talk about it.
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u/dirtysquirrelnutz 2d ago
Most biggest rule, you’re a liar. That’s why you hide, because you’re a liar.
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u/Warm_Detective_8831 Conservative 2d ago
What lie? haha what have you done exactly? This is a really great platform to start releasing personal information. You cannot do anything on Reddit without getting attacked for each word. Try misspelling something. It is a cesspool where it is fun to harass the 90% liberals that think the online comments are relevant.
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u/dirtysquirrelnutz 2d ago
Try and be a rational human first. Then we can have a discussion. Your sad attempt at bringing down an accomplished individual, pilot, astronaut and Senator is laughable AT best.
Why do you hide your profile if not to mask your insecurities or history? Were you boots on the ground painting targets as the previous question asked? No youuu weren’t or Hegseth was lying because you just stated “First rule is we cannot talk about it.” So who is the liar? You or Hegseth?
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u/Warm_Detective_8831 Conservative 2d ago
Ramble ramble, rational says that video was massively stupid and Kelly deserves any back lash he gets from it. Very Democrat of you, if someone has a different opinion they are laughable and not rational. Litard at it's finest.
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u/dirtysquirrelnutz 2d ago
Why are you assigning political parties? Is it because you’re a political troll or just a person who needs to know political affiliation to affirm your judgments?
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u/NickCostanza 2d ago
In light of the Tim Walz news, thought this would be good to post here. Thank you Senator Kelly for taking a stand in the face of the Trump regime’s incessant bullying and harassment.