A Fox News host has scrambled to justify President Donald Trump’s incendiary comments calling for his political enemies to be put to death.
Trey Gowdy, a Fox News presenter and former congressman, was quick to offer excuses and explanations for the president’s Thursday Truth Social tirade.
In a series of posts, the president accused several Democratic lawmakers of “seditious behavior” for publishing a video in which they reminded service members and the intelligence community that they took an oath to uphold the Constitution and that they can refuse illegal orders.
Trump, incensed, condemned the video, which he argued was “punishable by death.”
“It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL,” Trump wrote in another post. “Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL. Their words cannot be allowed to stand – We won’t have a Country anymore!!! An example MUST BE SET.”
The president also reposted messages from his supporters calling for the lawmakers featured in the video to be hanged.
Discussing the posts on Thursday night’s Special Report with Bret Baier, Baier asked Trey Gowdy, host of Sunday Night In America With Trey Gowdy, for his reaction. Gowdy, a loyal Trump supporter, was quick to offer excuses and explanations for the president’s tirade.
“I’m sure he meant after a trial by your peers, a jury trial by your peers, and after you have been found guilty,” Gowdy argued. “I mean, it was a stupid video. Look, you can’t get put to death for making a stupid video, or I’d be dead. I understand why the president is upset. It was a dumb video. I would advise him to ignore it.”
Others in Trump’s orbit amplified the posts, including Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz, who wrote on X, “Democrat members of Congress are brazenly and deliberately inciting members of the U.S. military to defy lawful orders from the Commander-in-Chief.”
”Their actions constitute a clear-cut case of seditious conspiracy, and every one of them must be prosecuted and held accountable to the absolute fullest extent of the law.”
For civilians, the charge of “seditious conspiracy” carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. For members of the military, one of the possible penalties for sedition is death, but as constitutional law scholars have explained, the Democrats’ video is not seditious.
“The speech Trump is criticizing simply states the law: soldiers are not to follow unconstitutional or illegal orders,” Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC Berkeley Law, told USA Today. “The accusation is unfounded and unnecessarily chills criticism of the President’s actions.”
The lawmakers who appeared in the video released a joint statement in response to the president’s inflammatory remarks which read, “Every American must unite and condemn the President’s calls for our murder and political violence. This is a time for moral clarity.“
”In these moments, fear is contagious, but so is courage. We will continue to lead and will not be intimidated.”
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