Acquiescence to Trump’s Perfidy Cannot Save the Rule of Law and the Republic
January 14, 2026
For those advocating constitutional government, the rule of law and the Bill of Rights, and justice, freedom and liberty, submission to President Donald Trump’s authoritarian tactics is not an option, which is precisely why Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell are examples of leaders who have risen to meet the challenges of the moment. Trump’s acts of perfidy represent coercive demands for silence, acquiescence and disregard of their statutory duties, institutional responsibilities and oath of office. The price they would pay for abandoning the rule of law and submitting to Trump’s demands is surrender of conscience, dignity, integrity and self-respect. What, then, in the voices of philosophers since Socrates, Confucious and Kant, is left of such a man?
Sen. Kelly, a decorated combat veteran and astronaut, with more experience and gravitas than his nemesis, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth can ever hope to acquire, continues to serve his nation, as well as veterans and active-duty members of the military, by reciting the law of the land and defending the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech. The Trump Administration has attacked Sen. Kelly for reminding those who have served, and those who continue to serve, that, “Our laws are clear: You can refuse illegal orders…. You must refuse illegal orders.” This principle, drilled into the minds of students at the service academies, was trumpeted by the Supreme Court in early 19th Century rulings. Sen. Kelly has brought a lawsuit against Hegseth for violating his rights under the First Amendment and the Speech and Debate Clause. His fight against the Trump Administration for its efforts to censure him and penalize him by demoting his military rank, is a fight to protect other veterans’ rights to speak freely against the government without fear of retaliation for expression of opinions that are not aligned with Trump’s. In World War II, readers will recall, American soldiers fought fascist regimes that prohibited freedom of speech.
Sen. Kelly’s lawsuit, therefore, is bigger than the specifics of his own case. His defense of freedom of speech, which is essential to our constitutional democracy, is part of another great cause: to prevent the president from coercing service members to carry out illegal orders, which they would be forbidden to ignore, challenge or discuss. That is not the American Way, it is not the Constitutional Way, and it is not the Democratic Way. Rather, it is the Authoritarian Way. If Sen. Kelly were to lose his lawsuit, then the U.S. military becomes answerable, not to the Constitution, military law and the laws of the land, but to Donald Trump.
Sen. Kelly’s lawsuit assumes greater importance considering the revelation that the Pentagon used a secret aircraft, painted to look like a civilian plane in its first attack on a boat that Trump said was smuggling drugs, which killed 11 people in September. The U.S. is not engaged in an armed conflict with suspected drug runners, but even if we accept the administration’s dubious claim to the contrary, the laws of war prohibit “perfidy.” Indeed, the laws of armed conflict bar combatants from feigning civilian status to fool adversaries into dropping their guard, which is a war crime. In this context, the administration’s orders may well have placed servicemen in legal jeopardy.
In the Constitutional Convention, James Madison stated that “perfidy,” even apart from the battlefield, would warrant impeachment of the president. The deliberate breach of faith, trust or loyalty, justified removal of the executive.
Chairman Powell, like Sen. Kelly, has courageously refused to acquiesce to President Trump’s demands, and is fighting back—vigorously—in the name of the rule of law and the statutorily defined independence of the Federal Reserve Board. Unable to coerce Powell into lowering interest rates, Trump’s justice department has issued subpoenas to the Fed Chair and threatened a criminal investigation purportedly grounded in his testimony to Congress last summer about the cost overruns associated with the renovation of the Federal Reserve building. Accountability for construction overruns is always a fine idea but does not require a criminal investigation. If it wishes, the GOP-controlled Congress can continue its inquiry. In a video, Powell bluntly characterized the threats of criminal charges as “pretexts” to undermine the Fed’s independence.
At this juncture, America needs more leaders like Kelly and Powell to speak truth to power.
-David Adler