“Treasonous Traitor,” proclaimed a New York Times op-ed, alleging dastardly betrayal of our country. That was back in 2018, when former Times op-ed columnist Charles Blow chose to express dissatisfaction with aspects of Trump’s policy toward Russia by buying into false allegations that were later comprehensively disproved and exposed as a politically motivated hoax. In case the former paper of record’s dwindling subscription base missed his point, Blow concluded, “Simply put, Trump is a traitor and may well be treasonous.”

Fast forward seven years, and the Times has a very different take on a matter that could, in fact, rise to the level of treasonous conduct. On Tuesday, six Democratic members of Congress—Senators Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin and Representatives Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander, Chrissy Houlahan, and Jason Crow—filmed a video calling on military servicemen to disobey what they call “illegal orders,” ominously adding that “threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home.”

Demanding that the military disobey the commander-in-chief in cases where they may disagree with or dissent from his orders, the Seditious Six did not bother to identify any specific orders they believed to be “illegal,” nor did they specify any laws that they felt were violated by either the Trump administration or any servicemember. They relied solely on their authority as elected officials and—in their personal cases—on their status as veterans of various branches of the armed forces or the intelligence community. .

President Trump was understandably infuriated by this attempt by political opponents to undermine the constitutional chain of command. In a series of posts, he described their conduct as “seditious behavior at the highest level” and stated that “each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL.” He later added that the behavior, if found to be treasonous, was “punishable by DEATH!” and reshared a post proclaiming: “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD!!”

Since no servicemen have yet disobeyed orders at the urging of the Seditious Six, a treason charge may be difficult to substantiate at this stage. They may very well, however, have engaged in seditious conspiracy, which, according to U.S. federal code provides that two or more individuals who “by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States … shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.” Under this law, no actual military disobedience need have been committed. Merely plotting to encourage such disobedience counts, and all six Democratic lawmakers may have done that by urging active-duty personnel to disobey what they define as “illegal orders” without reference to extant law or judicial rulings.

This is hardly the first time partisan Democrats have looked to extralegal measures to undermine or remove President Trump. The Russia hoax itself suggested such complicity in the FBI. James Comey, the former FBI director who is now under indictment for making false statements to Congress and for obstruction of justice, earlier this year arranged seashells in a pattern that read “8647,” a statement widely interpreted to mean that someone should “86”—or violently remove—“47,” a common reference to Trump by the number of his second term in the succession of U.S. presidents.

In November 2023, New York Democratic Representative Daniel Goldman said Trump “has to be eliminated.” David Plouffe, a senior advisor to Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign, went on record saying, “It is not enough to simply beat Trump. He must be destroyed thoroughly. His kind must not rise again.” Former President Joe Biden labeled Trump and all his supporters a “threat” to the nation and to “the very soul of this country,” “the very foundations of our republic,” and “everything America stands for.” In a widely publicized July 2024 private donor call leaked just five days before the first assassination attempt against Trump, Biden announced that “It’s time to put Trump in a bullseye,” a remark Biden later acknowledged was a “mistake.”

“I think those congressmen should be required to answer questions about why they did what they did,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said of the Seditious Six on Fox News last Wednesday. As of this writing, no investigation has been publicized. The Democratic senators and members of Congress and much of the rest of their party are claiming that Trump’s posts are death threats against them, but a wider view makes it clear that legal measures should determine what, if any, crimes they may have committed by making and releasing their incendiary video. As they like to say, no one is above the law.