Is Trump Giving Illegal Orders? Dems Just Blew the Question Wide Open.

That’s the story writ large, and in that context, the video from Democrats is an act of patriotism. It lets people throughout the government know that even if the GOP has wholly abdicated oversight, some lawmakers remain bound to the law, are watching closely, and have the backs of officials who fear that Trump’s orders are putting them in danger.

This is particularly germane when it comes to the military. As legal scholar Josh Chafetz told me, while the president is commander in chief, Congress has regulatory authorities over the military, and “military discipline is squarely within Congress’s purview.” That’s arguably what Democrats did with this video: They are doing their best to offer oversight even as Republicans will not. And they should keep it up. Big public gestures like this can force big public arguments, and the debate over whether Trump is or is not giving illegal orders is one we need to have.

So when Mike Johnson feigns horror over this Democratic intervention, the correct answer is: Are you effing kidding me? Given all we’ve seen, of course it’s reasonable to warn that Trump very well may be giving illegal orders. You may not want this debate, Speaker Johnson, but the rest of us do, and we’re damn well going to have it—whether you like it or not.