How Trump’s attacks on Senator Mark Kelly failed

WASHINGTON – As threats against members of Congress have skyrocketed in recent years, some lawmakers have required increased security while traveling to and from their jobs on Capitol Hill.

But Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) may be the first lawmaker to need personal armed guards specifically because of threats made against him by the president of the United States.

After Donald Trump called him a traitor and suggested he be hanged for telling service members they could disobey illegal orders, Kelly’s office received graphic threats not only on his life, but also on that of his wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), who survived being shot in the head in a politically motivated mass shooting nearly 15 years ago, fueling the couple’s advocacy for gun violence prevention ever since.

In an interview with News themezone this week, Kelly said he had never imagined that he would now be the one in the crosshairs, walking through the US Capitol with a security detail, something normally reserved only for congressional leaders.

“I understand political violence pretty well,” Kelly said in an interview with News themezone. “It’s something my family has had to deal with. It’s something the president and his family have had to deal with. He should understand that. He shouldn’t threaten to hang US senators.”

“I think it’s something quite unique in the history of our country: of all the presidents who have preceded him, he is probably the only one who has threatened to kill a senator,” he added.

Kelly has a visceral reminder at her side of what that kind of rhetoric can lead to. The head of his new security team is an officer who was also on his wife’s team after she was shot. The officer spent months protecting Giffords, even standing outside her hospital door while she recovered and underwent months of physical and speech therapy.

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Since appearing in a video last month with other Democratic lawmakers reminding members of the military that they can defy illegal orders, something Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth he himself acknowledged in 2016Kelly has seemingly been everywhere, covering cable news and late-night talk shows to criticize Trump and Hegseth for their handling of military strikes against suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea. He called both men unqualified for their position, dismissed their attempts to silence him as “ridiculous” and “shameful” and insisted he would not be forced to back down.

The feud with Trump has earned Kelly the kind of national attention that other Democrats who are also considering running for president can only dream of. As a former astronaut and decorated 25-year U.S. Navy veteran who flew combat missions in the Middle East, and as a Democrat from a battleground state, Kelly would be a compelling candidate if he decides to enter what will likely be a crowded race to succeed Trump in 2028.

“They’ve picked the wrong guy to be a target here,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told News themezone. “He bravely resists this attempt to silence and suffocate him.”

“I think this just highlights, first of all, his experience, but also his reputation,” added Sen. Rubén Gallego (D-Ariz.), who is also seen as a potential Democratic presidential contender in 2028. “So I think it’s backfiring on them.”

Republican senators said the video Kelly and other Democratic lawmakers recorded was unnecessarily inflammatory, but acknowledged that Trump’s inability to let it go has only served to elevate Kelly as a hero in the Democratic Party and prepare him for a run for higher office.

“I think he’s playing into the hands of the Democrats. I think that’s why they made the video to begin with,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told News themezone, calling it “rage bait” (the new word of the year in the Oxford Dictionary) that Trump simply couldn’t ignore.

When asked what he thought of Republicans and other pundits suggesting he was laying the groundwork for a presidential bid, Kelly declined to answer directly. He said he recorded the video as a “friendly reminder” to service members about their legal obligations as Trump deploys National Guard troops to American cities and threatens war against Venezuela.

“We wanted to send a message to members of the military that we have their back, and just give them a friendly reminder, because the way I see the situation we’re in, we have a president who talks about killing people and has talked about shooting protesters in the legs, and said the military won’t refuse his orders, even when they’re illegal,” Kelly told News themezone.

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Kelly, 61, was first elected to the Senate in 2020, winning a special election to replace the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), another veteran who came under attack from Trump. He won re-election in 2022, defeating Republican challenger Blake Masters. In 2024, he was considered the vice presidential running mate of Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris. (Kelly is running for re-election in 2028, which could potentially present a barrier to a presidential bid.)

Kelly’s apparent preparation for a presidential run goes beyond defense issues: He has released a plan to address the transition to artificial intelligence, which will likely be a major issue in the 2028 race, and presented it at the Center for American Progress on Thursday morning. He also traveled to South Carolina, which will likely be one of the first states to vote in the 2028 primary, for the 10th anniversary of the Mother Emanuel AME Church shooting in June.

And it has begun to circulate on podcasts, appearing with figures as disparate as investigative sports journalist Pablo Torre and right-wing commentator Bari Weiss, to talk about political violence.

But it is his positions on both the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee that have given him the high-profile job of overseeing the Trump administration’s national security policies.

The retired Navy combat pilot has faced a barrage of attacks from Trump, who said he and the five other Democratic lawmakers who participated in the video message to troops were guilty of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH.” The president then shared a post online calling for them to be hanged.

Meanwhile, Hegseth has asked the Secretary of the Navy to review Kelly’s comments in the video for “potentially illegal conduct,” suggesting he could face a court-martial. The senator maintains that he did nothing wrong and only learned about the investigation through an online post.

“He tweeted something, that’s how I was notified. That’s all I heard from the Navy, and that says it all about Pete Hegseth,” the senator said. he told CNN this week. Later, in another appearance on CNN, he accused Hegseth of being focused on seeing “how many views he can get on Twitter,” adding, “that’s what he cares about: He doesn’t care about the law or the process.”

Kelly has heard from Republican colleagues who agree with him. However, only a few have come out to defend him in public.

“Mark Kelly is a great friend, a great member of the Senate, and he brings a lot of contributions to this body,” Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) told News themezone when asked about Trump’s attacks.

Meanwhile, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) called the Pentagon investigation into Kelly “frivolous.”

“Accusing him and other lawmakers of treason and sedition for rightly pointing out that the military can reject illegal orders is reckless and flatly incorrect,” he added.

Hegseth has asked to be briefed next week on the results of a Pentagon review of Kelly’s rhetoric. Meanwhile, the FBI has launched a separate investigation into Kelly and the other Democrats in the video and is considering investigating them for seditious conspiracy, according to Bloomberg.

But Kelly has shown no signs of backing down. Earlier this week, he called a news conference at the Capitol where he compared his record to Trump’s in a speech that could one day be heard during the election campaign.

“In 1991, when Donald Trump was bankrupting the Taj Mahal casino, I was shot over Iraq and Kuwait,” he said Monday. “In 2001, after Donald Trump said the collapse of the Twin Towers meant he now owned the tallest skyscraper in Manhattan, I carried flags honoring the victims of 9/11 into space on a rocket.”

“In 2003, when Trump was writing birthday wishes to the monster Jeffrey Epstein, I was the first on the scene to recover the bodies of my fellow astronauts who died when the space shuttle Columbia exploded upon reentry,” he continued. “In 2011, when Trump was peddling conspiracy theories against President Barack Obama, I was sitting next to my wife’s hospital bed as she recovered from a gunshot wound to the head.”

“What I want to say is this: I have been through much worse situations in the service of my country,” he added. “The president and Pete Hegseth are not going to silence me.”