Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, the former chairman of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, accused Democrats in a recent interview of hating the military and serving for purely political reasons.
“They hate the military,” Mr. Perry said of Democrats during an interview last week on the Chris Stigall Show, a nationally syndicated conservative radio program. “That’s only a credential that they get when they want to run for office. They join the military, they serve a little bit, they get the credential and then they run for office and wear the uniform and say, ‘Look at me — I support America.’ But let’s face it, all their votes say they don’t support America.”
Mr. Perry, who served in the U.S. Army and retired with the rank of brigadier general, added: “They don’t care about the Constitution or the nation’s defense.”
In the interview, Mr. Perry added his voice to a stream of recent Republican statements denouncing political adversaries in extreme ways.
Last week, at an event honoring the slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, President Trump said that the political left had the “devil’s ideology.” Mr. Perry’s views on Democrats and the military also echoed the president’s recent partisan appeals to the military, a breach of the nation’s long tradition of keeping politics out of the armed forces.
Republican leaders have also used similarly polarizing language to talk about the anti-Trump “No Kings” protests that drew millions of Americans over the weekend to march against what they viewed as the president’s authoritarian and lawless actions.
Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, referred to those demonstrations as “hate America” rallies, and said that some of the people who participated were not “pro-American.”
“Calling out the president, saying fascists must die and all the rest, I mean, I don’t think that’s loving speech,” Mr. Johnson said on Sunday in an interview with ABC, “I don’t think that’s friendly speech. And I don’t think it’s pro-American to say those kinds of things.”
Mr. Perry is one of the most vulnerable House Republicans seeking re-election in 2026. Last year, even in a more favorable political moment with Mr. Trump on the ballot, he won his district by just 1 percentage point.
His Democratic opponent this cycle is Janelle Stelson, a longtime local news anchor who ran in 2024 and outperformed former Vice President Kamala Harris in the district. Ms. Stelson is currently the top-funded House challenger in the country, and a survey from Public Policy Polling conducted in July had her running ahead of Mr. Perry, 46 to 43 percent.
Mr. Perry did not respond to a request for comment.
Democrats who have served in the military expressed disgust at his statements and skepticism that he would have the guts to make them face to face.
“I dare Scott to say that to me in person,” said Representative Pat Ryan, a New York Democrat and a graduate of West Point who served two combat tours in Iraq and has two bronze stars. “Because I’d tell him the truth: I love this country and he’s an insurrectionist traitor.”
Representative Chris DeLuzio, a Pennsylvania Democrat who served in the Navy, said he was not interested in a lecture “about my military service or love of country from anyone who was part of the plan to overthrow the 2020 election and rip our Constitution to shreds.”
And Cait Conley, who served six tours in places like Iraq and Afghanistan and is challenging Representative Mike Lawler, a Republican, in a competitive district in upstate New York, said she was appalled by Mr. Perry’s words.
“We are the military, too,” said Ms. Conley, who was motivated by the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when she was a junior in high school, to apply to West Point. “I did that out of a love for this country.”
She added: “Those types of accusations are un-American. The military is an apolitical institution, and that’s what is so important for this country.”
Annie Karni is a congressional correspondent for The Times.
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