“Five deferments earns nothing.” That was the last line of Senator, and retired Naval Aviator (including combat veteran) and Astronaut Mark Kelly said to Trump in a tweet that deserves to go viral. While pretend warrior Pete Hegseth seems to have decided not to recall Kelly to active duty to face a Court Martial he did announce initiating a formal process to reduce Kelly’s retired rank of Navy Captain (O-6). Kelly has had enough and gone on the attack and he “flew” right over Hegesth’s anti-aircraft battery and drooped a political bomb on Petey’s boss. Yep, Kelly called out Trump. Bluntly and directly referencing bone spurs and lack of military service by ANYONE in Trump’s family.
One can only hope Trump will learn of this during his Lie-fest taking place at the Kennedy Center. Him freaking the hell out might make some of the GOPers realize finally and too late they have GOT to rein Trump in. I was, with I admit some justification criticized for posting a ‘tedious’ if informative article yesterday. Well, I can guarantee you’re going to enjoy this one! I saw a clip of Kelly’s tweet on MS NOW and found an article by Mediaite about it. It sure brought a smile to MY face and will to yours too. It will also provide us and others with fighting spirit. Without saying it directly Kelly pretty much called Trump and his entire family going back generations draft-dodging cowards. Better still, Kelly didn’t bury the lede:
“I’ve got a question for ya,” Kelly began. “How many of Donald Trump’s family have served in the military?”
Kelly motioned at the camera as he answered, “Zero.”
That was just an appetizer. A full prime dinner with all the trimmings would follow. In his tweet Kelly, dressed in casual garb like he’s on a trop to the hardware store lays out his own family’s generations of service to this country. He started with his great-grandfather serving in the Navy after immigrating from Ireland. Then his grandfathers who both served in WWII. Then his parents – after serving in the 82nd Airborne his dad, like his mom served as police officers. Then he spoke about his (twin) brother’s service. Both of them becoming EMTs as teenagers, then both of them becoming Naval Aviators and then Astronauts.
Contrast that with Trumpty-Dumpty of whom Kelly then went on to say:
Donald Trump? He deferred the draft five times because he had bone spurs.
Look, not everyone has to serve in our military, I get that. But when you’re gonna question my patriotism, and lecture me about duty to this country, and threaten me with a court martial? Four generations of service to this country earns me the right to speak. Five deferments earns nothing.
Trump is maybe getting enough fluffing this afternoon to keep from exploding but tonight? Ronny Jackson is as I write this making calls and sending texts to ensure some SERIOUS drugs are on hand to try and calm Trump down tonight. I’d say the line between calming him and killing him is so thin it’s as invisible as those magic bone spurs Trump claims to have had. Senator Tammy Duckworth is the one who hung the ‘Cadet Bone Spurs’ handle on Trump but it looks like Kelly is going to take that ball and ram it down Trump’s throat. Or up his fat white ass – sideways!
This all got started because Kelly and five other Democrats made a video literally quoting the Uniform Code of Military Justice clauses about having not just the right but the duty to refuse illegal orders. Kelly, like any of us who have served (including self-proclaimed Warrior’s Warrior Hegseth) was taught about this and other key parts of the UCMJ starting back in training. And reminders are periodically given during your service. But it set Trump off because as far as he’s concerned HE is the law. What “lesser’ people have codified doesn’t count for jack-sh*t to him. That video directly challenged him by accurately echoing former Joint Chief Chair Mark Milly. Milly if you recall reminded the troops their duty was to the CONSTITUION and not to any President.
The video was a reminder of the rule of law, including and especially military law which with Trump as Commander-in-Chief is more necessary than it’s ever been in our history. Since Kelly is retired after a decades of Navy service he can (like Mike Flynn) technically be recalled to active duty to face charges at a Court Martial. So Trumpty ordered little Petely Hegesth to tend to that. As I said Hegseth apparently showed a bit of sound judgement and didn’t go that far. That may well change after Trump fully absorbs Kelly having called him a draft-dodging Chicken Hawk COWARD, AND that Trump comes from a family line of draft-dodgers. Even many dumbass MAGAs will look at what Kelly and HIS family have done and what Trump and HIS family have NOT done. Then question, at least to themselves if their hero is worthy of the worship he’s demanded and gotten.
That’s something I could write about for days but I want to wrap this up. I predict this isn’t over, but just getting started. Kelly unleashed quite an explosion but as we say in the military wait for the “secondary(S) – the additional explosion(s) triggered by the initial one. Part of the reason I say that is Kelly has made it clear he’s not going to back down. In fact, this is evidence he intends to keep striking out at Trump. Take a look for yourself and tell me you aren’t looking forward to more, much more.
Four generations of my family have served our country. Service is in my blood. The President wouldn’t know anything about that. pic.twitter.com/a4OBrYKsUe
— Captain Mark Kelly (@CaptMarkKelly) January 5, 2026
In the grunts we’d look at that and like in the field say approvingly “get some.” As in keep raining down hell on the enemy whether it’s rifle/machine gun fire, mortars, artillery or bombs from aircraft. Trump, and frankly the whole damned GOP should be very afraid now. Kelly I’m starting to think has that “it” quality. Gravitas. Command Presence. Yet clearly he can speak in terms that I believe resonate with people in their gut. It he keeps hitting Trump with this kind of stuff it’s going to matter whether Kelly decides next year to run for President or not.
Anyway we are in for one epic tweet storm from Cadet Bone Spurs. I saw a pundit talking about this an hour ago and he posed a question I hope lots of Democrats, including Kelly and others who’ve served will ask: ‘What about Barron?’ In other words as the pundit put it if Trump is sooooooo gung ho about by god we’ll send in the troops then send his own damned kid. FDR did and so did other top elected officials both Democrat and Republican during WWII. Eisenhower’s kids wouldn’t have been protected. I suspect part of the animus between Bush 41 and 43 was about more than drinking and laziness. It was baby Bush going behind his back to get that slot in the Texas Air Guard, and then blowing off his commitment after completing training.
Trump’s family history is a sordid one of avoiding military service. Kelly it seems is ready to rub Trump’s face in it. The smart thing to do would be for Trump to issue a final “Kelly is a bad guy’ post and order Hegesth to quietly let the proceedings against Kelly die – and pull that letter of reprimand. Who thinks THAT will happen? Not me. I say it’s a good time to buy popcorn futures because Kelly is going to smack Trump and Hegseth around like a tetherball.
This ole broken down grunt says “Get Some Sen. Kelly!”
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
This is one of the best things I’ve seen in the past 10 years? All the real and true veterans in congress should be unloading on him like this. As you would say Denis “get some!” I was thinking as in get a piece of that azz.
Am I right in assuming Kelly can and will appeal the reduction in rank so that the casus belli ticks away unless T & P drop it? And even that action is not without blowback, broadcasting TACO
Of course he will fight it. First of all it’s not a done deal – there’s a process. One can be sure Hegseth will try to stack the deck with the panel of Officers who will review the matter and make the (cough cough) ‘recommendation’ or pressure them with ‘You know what I want your final report to be and if it’s not then kiss your own careers goodbye’ bullshit. Most officers facing something like this would either sit back and trust the system (if they hadn’t done anything wrong at least) or quietly present their case. Kelly however is a sitting U.S. Senator and a high profile figure. He can handle himself well in front of the cameras whether in a prepared speech or in a press gaggle.
What’s striking me is that he’s playing offense on this. That’s going to put a lot of pressure on the panel and Hegsth himself. I have mixed feelings at the moment on whether it would help or hurt but Kelly can also play the Mike Flynn card.
Flynn almost certainly committed national security crimes. His being fired as head of the DIA by Obama indicates that but of course the very mission of the Defense Intelligence Agency means prosecution even in a Court Martial would have been problematic given what Flynn had access to. Still, many (including me at one point) liked the idea of him being recalled to active duty to face Court Martial. However neither Obama or Biden allowed such a thing to happen. That asshat SHOULD be rotting in Leavensworth or Portsmouth or at least a civilian prison but he’s not.
My point is that it will be interesting to see if Kelly points out what HE is being charged with (because he didn’t do anything illegal) vs. what Mike Flynn got away with. Flynn deserved (still does) far more than mere reduction in retirement rank. Like I said he deserves to be convicted of crimes, do time and have a Court Martial sentence that strips him of retirement pay and benefits – the full ‘Big Chicken Dinner’ which legally is called a Bad Conduct Discharge!
My gut feeling is that Kelly might not want to play that particular card but it’s there and even if he doesn’t himself someone else might take it upon themselves to lay it on the table. He should at least be prepared to respond to questions if it comes up.
Finally, remember Ronny Jackson? He is no longer officially a doctor because no jurisdiction will grant him a license to practice medicine. Not that Dr. Pill Popper, “candyman’ to everyone from Team Trump to the WH press corps during Trump’s first term wound up undergoing review which led to reduction in rank. Trump of course immediately ordered it restored and Hegseth’s DOD did exactly that. So, even if they do it to Kelly a future President can fix it.
IF Kelly decides to run for President from what I’ve seen even before this he’d be a serious player in the mix. I think Susie Wiles and others high in the GOP who actually ‘know shit’ realize this and are in a quandry. Trump, Stephen Miller, Hegseth and others THINK this would cripple Kelly’s candidacy. I think it would blow up in their faces. Kelly is NOT former Senator and Governor (and Medal of Honor recipient) Bob Kerry. Kerry himself was embarrassed about his Medal and ‘war hero’ status. Plus, like another Senator looking back he came to regret many of the missions he led during Vietnam feeling too many innocents got killed in ‘free fire zones.’ When Karl Rove lobbed that shot across his bow (raising a coded question which was actually a ‘if you run we’re going to bring up a mission you led and drag your name and your men through the mud for war crimes) Kerry, who likely would have won the nomination and the Presidency had he stuck it out walked away.
Kelly on the other hand ONLY exercised his First Amendment rights and spoke truth to power using none other than the UCMJ’s own articles about illegal orders to make his point. PLUS as a sitting U.S. Senator even if he wasn’t simply stating FACT which are standard military training he’d be covered by the Speech and Debate clause. All Kelly and the others did was basically remind troops of something they already get taught.
I suspect that all this public to do will raise his profile, as in the Streisand effect. It might fuel any efforts toward higher office. We shall see.
I’m nowhere near ready to pick a preference going into primary season for 2028. However back when Kelly was being mentioned as a possible VP pick I already knew some about him. I’d assume that being an Arizonan he’d be more moderate than I’d like but absent that I thought then and think now he’d be a solid choice. If he runs we’ll see how well his record holds up to the spotlight but he’d have a lot going for him. Not to mention his wife Gabby. She’s never fully recoverred from being shot in the head but she’s doing ok. What a breath of fresh air she’d be as First Lady after Melanoma! If as I can tell the worst we as Democrats can say about Kelly is he leans moderate on some social issues he’s got the goods. Career Naval Aviator including dozens of combat missions. Astronaut for chrissake with a twin brother still one with NASA. He looks like he could still do blue water carrier ops and watching him in interviews he seems like he’s still got the mental edge required of a Naval Aviator making a night landing in driving rain on a carrier pitching up and down and rolling side to side on stormy seas. He projects Gravitas, yet also a common touch. That video, and other times I’ve seen him (he was in casual garb during his interview with Lawrence O’Donnell last night) reveals him as someone that passes that ridiculous “someone you’d enjoy having a beer with” test. He’s not shown real signs of preparing a Presidential bid so far as I know but if he decides to go for it I’m thinking he’d quickly build a formidable campaign operation.
Agree. He has qualities that should appeal to Independents and to sane Republicans.
No, Denis, you are wrong when you say that Sen. Mark Kelly, as a sitting U.S. senator, would be protected by the speech and debate clause of the U.S. Constitution. That protection extends primarily but not exclusively to words uttered on the floor of the Senate or House. I checked online to confirm how or where Kelly reminded members of the military that they had the obligation to refuse to obey illegal orders. AI Overview said:
Senator Mark Kelly distributed his message to military personnel regarding the obligation to disobey illegal orders through a video posted on social media (X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram) in November 2025.
So, no, Kelly’s words were not protected by the speech and debate clause of the Constitution. Here is what Congress says about it:
It is apparent that the key determination in Speech or Debate Clause cases is whether the conduct directly in question, or on which evidence or testimony is sought, constitutes a legislative act.102 If legislative, the Member is exempt from criminal or civil liability that may otherwise have attached to that act, and evidence of the act may not be introduced or testimony by the Member compelled.103 As the Court has repeatedly stated, Members are “immune from liability for their actions within the ‘legislative sphere,’ even though their conduct, if performed in other than legislative contexts, would in itself be unconstitutional or otherwise contrary to criminal or civil statutes.”104 If the underlying conduct is not legislative, however, the prosecution or civil claim is not barred by the Clause, and evidence of the act is not privileged.105 [Note: The numbers 102 – 105 are references.]
This explanation can be found at the following link:
https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R45043#:~:text=Conversely%2C%20actions%20that%20have%20not,speaking%20outside%20of%20Congress;&text=writing%20newsletters%20and%20issuing%20press%20releases;&text=privately%20publishing%20a%20book;&text=distributing%20official%20committee%20reports%20outside%20the%20legislative%20sphere;&text=engaging%20in%20political%20activities;&text=engaging%20in%20constituent%20services%2C%20including,constituent%20and%20the%20executive%20branch;&text=promising%20to%20perform%20a%20future,accepting%20a%20bribe.
To everybody: I have just now noticed that the other comments and the opinion itself were published three weeks ago. I don’t know that Denis or anybody who read his opinion when it was first distributed will even see my comment now. I am sorry that I did not see the opinion sooner so my comment would have been more useful.
Kelly is becoming my favorite for 2028.
He already IS mine…..