Click here for Heather Cox Richardson's diary entry in "Letters from an American" for November 22, 2025.
On Tuesday, November 18, six Democratic lawmakers, veterans of the U.S. military or intelligence services, released a video saying service members should refuse to obey unlawful orders. This should not have received any criticism, as the principle is a cornerstone of U.S. military doctrine; events such as the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, national guard troops killing student demonstrators at Kent State, and the prisoner mistreatment at Abu Ghraib during the Iraq war would not have taken place had soldiers refused their orders. The German defense at the Nuremberg trials -- "I was a good soldier; I was only following orders" -- did not stand up, and the defendants were all either hanged or sentenced to long prison terms.
Donald Trump didn't see it that way, and posted on social media that this was "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!" Today, November 23, he is continuing to attack the six lawmakers.
Richardson notes that Trump's behavior is not unprecedented; Andrew Johnson, a Southern Democrat who became president for the remainder of Lincoln's term, from 1865 until 1868, had called for certain Republican opponents to be hanged. For this and other reasons, Johnson was impeached in the House, and escaped conviction in the Senate (and consequent removal from office) by a single vote.
Richardson's article goes into some detail about Johnson's behavior during his term in office, when he attempted to repress black Americans in the south (he was a strong Southern Democrat) and undo Lincoln's civil rights achievements. Johnson had a tumultuous term in office, and his reactionary policies resulted in a massive defeat in the midterms in 1866, with Republicans winning a two-thirds majority in the House. The House proceeded to pass the Fourteenth Amendment, granting citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. and ensuring equal protection under the law, particularly for former slaves, and prohibiting the denial of life, liberty, or property without due process.
Johnson is widely considered the second-worst president in history, after James Buchanan (1856-1860), who allowed the South to slip into the Civil War. (Trump is generally considered the third-worst, but since he seems to be doing worse every day, he may yet pass Buchanan and Johnson in the worst-president sweepstakes.)
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