After a video reminding service members of their obligation to refuse illegal orders was released to social media by six Democratic members of House and the Senate, all former members of the United States military or intelligence services, the president lashed out.
“It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL,” Donald Trump posted to his social media platform Truth Social at 9 a.m. on November 20. “Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL. Their words cannot be allowed to stand – We won’t have a Country anymore!!! An example MUST BE SET.”
An hour later, he was less ambiguous about his meaning.
“SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR,” Trump posted, “punishable by DEATH.”
Statements and reposts from the president called participants in the video “traitors,” a term that the president uses as a weapon, casting his critics as enemies of the state. Far from only a rhetorical attack, Trump’s words and anger carry consequences as his critics become targets of threats by his supporters and punishment by the administration, with several calling for Democrats to be arrested for treason (for which one punishment is the death penalty), and posts wishing for them to be hanged.
A screen capture from Donald Trump’s official Truth Social account on November 20, 2025. (Source: Truth Social)
In the video, the lawmakers spoke in turn about the administration “pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community officials against American citizens.”
The video features Navy veterans Sen. Mark Kelly (Arizona), Rep. Chris Deluzio (Pennsylvania), and Rep. Maggie Goodlander (New Hampshire), as well as Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (Pennsylvania), a former Air Force officer, and Sen. Elissa Slotkin (Michigan) a former CIA officer and Rep. Jason Crow (Colorado), a former Army Ranger.
“Right now the threats to our constitution aren’t just coming from abroad but from right here at home. Our laws are clear, you can refuse illegal orders… You must refuse illegal orders.”
Trump’s tirade against the video continued as he shared posts from small accounts calling the lawmakers traitors, including those with only a few hundred followers and no profile image.
One message shared by the president read, “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD[sic].
Trump later walked the statements back on a Fox Radio program, saying “I’m not threatening death, but I think they’re in serious trouble.”
Slotkin said threats were “instantaneous” following Trump’s posts about their video. Crow’s office also reported a spike in threats.
Sitting politicians facing threats of violence after criticizing or countering Trump publicly is not restricted to the Democratic Party, especially when it comes to deploying terms like “traitor.” Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has grown increasingly critical of the president in 2025, breaking her longstanding support for Trump. She questioned the time he spent focused on foreign policy and accused him of trying to keep the Epstein files from being released.
Trump responded by withdrawing his support for Greene and repeatedly referring to her as a “Traitor” on Truth Social on November 15.
Greene responded, eventually claiming on X that the president’s outbursts and “lies” about her were related to pushes for the files from Jeffery Epstein’s child trafficking operations to be released. When she also complained of death threats resulting from Trump’s statement, including an alleged bomb threat at a construction company owned by Greene, he dismissed her as unimportant.
“I don’t think her life is in danger. I don’t think, frankly, I don’t think anybody cares about her,” he said.
Greene posted to X that Trump’s comments had put “blood in the water” and could “ultimately lead to a harmful or even deadly outcome.” She announced days later she would not be seeking reelection and would resign her position in January 2026.
When an Indiana state senator refused to redraw the state’s congressional map that would aid Trump’s gerrymandering efforts, Trump took to Truth Social, and said he was “very disappointed in Indiana State Senate Republicans.” He specifically naming State Sen. Greg Goode, whose home was the target of an attempted swatting only hours later.
Trump is either unwilling to believe that his words carry a real risk to people, or he knows it and is unwilling to acknowledge it.
In Trump’s political environment, labeling someone a “traitor” is not just rhetoric; it triggers massive public hostility, and can even be associated with with federal actions against critics.
Trump’s comments, especially the use of “sedition,” “traitors,” and “hang them,” coupled with the Pentagon’s November 24 announcement that they will be investigating Sen. Mark Kelly (Arizona) over “possible breaches of military law,” sent online extremists into a violent frenzy.
In response to an official White House tweet (1.3 million views) labeling the Democrat veterans as “SEDITIOUS,” users called for the Trump administration to “see to it that they are handled,” and “make an example” of them. Also in the White House’s comment section, several users were galvanized by Trump’s repost on Truth Social calling to “hang them,” as users posted an image of a noose and said to “get the rope,” implying support of hanging sitting representatives. Another X user posted an image citing the Uniform Code of Military Justice referring to “mutiny or sedition,” which says “A person who is found guilty of attempted mutiny, mutiny, sedition, or failure to suppress or report a mutiny or sedition shall be punished by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.”
“Gunther Eagleman,” a MAGA influencer on X with over 1.6 million followers, replying to a post by Rep. Goodlander (NH) critiquing Trump’s comments, said “You are a seditious traitor. I hope and Pray you are prosecuted for your treason.” Gunther’s post amassed over 20,000 views, 500 retweets, and 5,800 likes in just over a day. Similarly, “Paul A. Szypula” shared a video by Rep. Houlahan (Pennsylvania) defending herself against Trump’s threats. Szypula suggested that Houlahan “committed treason by telling military not to follow orders,” and that “the Constitution is clear on consequences for treason…Give Houlahan life in prison.” In the United States, those guilty of treason may be subject to the death penalty. The post has over 1.3 million views, 11,000 retweets, and 39,000 likes.
User “@Bubblebathgirl” alleged in a post that collected over 1.3 million views that Chrissy Houlahan (PA) committed treason (Source: X).
Virulent Islamophobe and occasional Trump confidant Laura Loomer, using a Truth Social screenshot of Trump saying “DEMOCRAT TRAITORS…HAVE COMMITTED A CRIME OF SERIOUS PROPORTION,” called for the Trump administration to arrest the Democrats for “treason or sedition.” The post collected over 7,500 retweets, 25,000 likes, and 628,000 views.
Laura Loomer calls the video to military members “treason” and calls for the arrest of the Democrat participants. (Source: X).
“Traitors” Become Targets
The calls for legal action and capital punishment against members of congress by the president follow a pattern that has become familiar with the current administration. Trump will designate a target through comments to reporters or on social media, commonly a critic or group he paints as being against him. Often, they are simply mocked or derided; other times, like the recent reactions to dissenting lawmakers, Trump will accuse his enemies of much more serious offenses, such as treason. These statements are reported on by right-wing media and boosted by his supporters and sycophants through their large audiences on social media. This in turn stokes outrage among his followers, and leads to the influx of reported threats. Threats against humans are mainstreamed and normalized.
Trump has shown a repeated willingness to target those he views as traitors through the tools of his administration, regardless of their party or position. A practice that also involves directing various departments of his government, including the attorney general, to conduct investigations. Early in his second term, Trump directed the Department of Justice to investigate two government officials from his first administration, stripping them of their security clearances in the process.
Christopher Krebs, the former head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), called the 2020 election “the most secure in history,” countering the president’s claims that the election had been stolen from him through fraud. In April 2025, the White House called Krebs a “bad-faith actor who weaponized and abused his Government authority” and urged the attorney general and director of national intelligence to investigate him.
Krebs had already faced harassment for publicly disagreeing with Trump in 2020 over the election. Trump’s campaign lawyer Joseph DiGenova said on Newsmax’s “Howie Carr Show” that Krebs should be “drawn and quartered” and “taken out at dawn and shot.”
Krebs sued DiGenova, claiming that “an angry mob immediately bombarded” him “with a barrage of death threats and harassment.” DiGenova later apologized for his statements, but the president did not.
Along with his memo targeting Krebs, another was issued for the former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, Miles Taylor. Taylor previously wrote an anonymous op-ed claiming there was a “quiet resistance” within the government against the president during his first term.
Trump said that Taylor was “like a traitor” and likened his writing about “confidential” meetings to “spying.”
“I think he’s guilty of treason,” Trump said.
Taylor told Politico in an interview that Trump’s statements had been followed by a wave of threats against him and his family.
In January 2025, Trump also moved to strip former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley of his security clearances and security detail. Milley had previously angered the president after it was revealed that the general took a phone call from Chinese officials and assured them the U.S. was not going to launch an attack after the January 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol building.
“If the Fake News reporting is correct, [Milley] was actually dealing with China to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in September 2023. “This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!”
Milley, who has been an outspoken critic of Trump since his retirement, told author Bob Woodward that he has received “a non-stop barrage of death threats.”
Tracking Trump Shows Increase in Violent Rhetoric
The title of “traitor” when wielded by the president translates to calls from online extremists on social media to fantasize about political violence in the wake of world events, which has sadly become a new norm of online discourse.The Global Project Against Hate And Extremism (GPAHE) tracked a massive increase in violent language against members of the judiciary amid an onslaught of attacks by Trump and his acolytes.
GPAHE documented a 327 percent increase in online violent threats and calls for impeachment against judges between May 1, 2024 and April 30, 2025. As the culture of anti-democratic violence continued to fester online because of Trump’s callous behavior, judges faced increased threats against themselves and their families, including bomb threats, threatening phone calls and emails, and pizza deliveries with notes saying “I know where you live.”
Claims of “lawfare” and similar Trump talking points targeting judges were also embraced by the transnational far right.
In July 2025, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard accused former President Barack Obama of orchestrating a “treasonous conspiracy,” sparking an 1,100 percent increase in Truth Social comments targeting Obama as treasonous and deserving of either imprisonment or execution, with users calling for “public trials and public executions” based on Gabbard’s claims. At the time of publishing, no charges have been laid against Obama.
Social media platforms act as a breeding ground for violence. In June 2025, white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and Trump allies all called for violence against immigrants and protesters during anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles after Trump labeled dissenters as “violent, insurrectionist mobs.”
The first “No Kings” protest on June 14, likewise faced calls for violence against protesters by groups like the Proud Boys (whose leadership was pardoned by Trump for their involvement in the January 6, 2021 Capitol Insurrection), who called for drivers to run over protesters. Soon after, several agitators drove their cars into protesters, including in Culpeper, VA., San Francisco, CA., and Riverside, CA. No Kings protesters also faced violent threats and extremist counter-protesters, such as the Proud Boys and Patriot Front.
In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder in September 2025, viral posts on X, with some collecting over three million views, made by far-right extremists called for “war” against their perceived political opponents, who they deemed as “terrorists.” The Trump Administration followed suit by ridiculously and dangerously labeling “Antifa” (i.e., “antifascism”) as a domestic terrorist group and designated several foreign “antifa” groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) while hollowing out federal law enforcement efforts to prevent far-right violence.
Trump’s definition of traitor is one expanded to include any type of dissent and is used against his political critics, former allies who break ranks, and officials who uphold constitutional processes against his demands. His use of the word skews a serious legal charge into a political categorization of disloyalty, with dangerous consequences.
