Republican Rep. Brian Mast didn’t mince words this weekend, calling Democrats who publicly urged troops to disobey so-called “illegal orders” despicable — and he’s right to call it out. When political leaders egg on defiance inside our military, they aren’t protesting policy, they’re undermining the very chain of command that keeps our nation safe and our soldiers alive.
The consequences of that kind of reckless rhetoric were on brutal display in Washington when two West Virginia National Guard members were ambushed near the White House, one later dying and the other left fighting for his life. These were young Americans in uniform doing a thankless job to protect our capital, and the country owes them far more than empty platitudes.
Authorities say the suspect in the attack is Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who entered the United States during the post-Afghanistan evacuations and had a complicated history that included prior association with U.S. partners overseas. This isn’t a time for soft-headed pleas to “trust the system”; it’s a time for hard questions about vetting, intel sharing, and who we allow into sensitive positions here at home.
This tragedy has also exposed the absurd legal and political circus in which we now operate; a federal judge recently ruled that the current National Guard deployment in D.C. is likely unlawful and stayed enforcement so the administration can appeal. Yet politics shouldn’t trump protection — if courts or lawmakers want changes, they should act decisively, but not while politicized voices encourage the troops on the ground to ignore orders.
President Trump moved quickly to shore up security, requesting an additional 500 National Guard troops for the capital, a sensible step to deter further attacks and reassure the American people. The Department of Justice has signaled it will pursue the strongest penalties available against the attacker, which sends the right message that assaults on our service members will be met with full force of the law.
Enough with the moral equivalence. When Democrat operatives and pundits glorify disobedience by soldiers, they play with lives for cheap political points. Patriots who bleed and die in uniform deserve leaders who defend the rule of law and the chain of command, not agitators who seek to weaponize the military for partisan theater.
We must honor the fallen and care for the wounded, but honoring them also means fixing the failures that put them in harm’s way — secure borders, rigorous vetting, and political accountability for those who erode military cohesion. Every hardworking American who loves this country should be galvanized, not distracted, and should demand that elected officials stop playing politics with our security.
