Several Republican senators are chastising Donald Trump over his call to execute political enemies, even as the wider party appears content to shrug off the president’s death threats.
Trump, 79, flew off the handle in a series of menacing Truth Social posts Thursday, suggesting that a group of Democrats should be punished by death after they urged U.S. service members and the intelligence community to refuse illegal orders in a video.
“SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” the president wrote in an extraordinary Truth Social post, moments after designating them “traitors.”
He also reposted one of his supporters’ messages that called for the Democrats’ hanging. “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!” the post read.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul raised alarms over Trump’s extreme language, arguing that such rhetoric all but invites violence from those inclined to take it literally.
“That kind of rhetoric isn’t good and it stirs up people among us who may not be stable who may think well ‘traitors,’ what do we do with traitors? It’s the death penalty. Maybe I’ll just take matters into my own hands, which is not something we should be encouraging,” Paul, 62, told ABC News.
The Kentucky senator, one of the few in his party to regularly challenge Trump, argued, “I think we have political disagreements and we need to work them out in a political way.”
Meanwhile, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis called Trump’s death threats against the Democrats, all of whom are veterans, “a little strong,” according to Huffington Post’s Igor Bobic.
“Words carry a lot of weight,” said Tillis, 65, who is not running for reelection next year. “Kids are watching, and the president of the United States should always be thinking less about the adults you’re reacting to, to probably what was objectionable behavior by the Democrats, and the kids that are watching, too.”
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham called Trump’s posts “over the top,” while criticizing the Democrats’ video, which featured Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelly, as well as Reps. Chrissy Houlahan, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander, and Jason Crow.
Asked Speaker Johnson about Trump’s post about Dems’ ‘seditious behavior’ and about that being ‘punishable by death,” Speaker Johnson takes no issue with Trump’s statements and criticizes Democrats’ rhetoric as “wildly inappropriate.” pic.twitter.com/9o4yCxM6oX
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 20, 2025
“This is the most irresponsible thing I’ve seen from members of Congress, period, but what the president said I don’t agree with,” said Graham, 70, according to Reuters.
Reuters noted that “numerous” other Republican senators declined to comment on Trump’s posts.
Florida Sen. Rick Scott, 72, told NOTUS, “It’s a hypothetical. Trump’s not going to do something illegal. OK, so it’s not going to happen.” Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, 45, said, “I’m sure the president has his tongue in cheek there.”
Asked by CNN’s Manu Raju about the commander-in-chief’s comments, House Speaker Mike Johnson, 53, claimed that Trump was merely “defining the crime of sedition” and slammed the Democrats’ video as “wildly inappropriate.”
When reached for comment, the White House referred the Daily Beast to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s press briefing Thursday.
Asked if Trump wants to execute members of Congress, Leavitt said, “No,” before attacking the Democratic lawmakers in the video.
“You have sitting members of the United States Congress who conspired together to orchestrate a video message to members of the United States military, to active duty service members, to members of the national security apparatus, encouraging them to defy the president’s lawful orders,” Leavitt declared.
The Democrats in the video were clear in their message that service members took an oath to the U.S. Constitution and could refuse “illegal” orders. They did not specify what constitutes an illegal order.
Leavitt called it a hazardous message and argued it was “perhaps punishable by law.”
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