Arizona’s senator warns of unprecedented danger as the president calls for executing members of Congress.
TOP QUOTES BY US SENATOR MARK KELLY:
- “If this president thinks I’m going to back down, he’s lost his mind,” Kelly said. “I’m standing up for everybody.”
- “This president is asleep,” Kelly said. “Like literally, he’s falling asleep on the job like every day, and it’s hurting the American people.”
- “During a raid near a Tucson restaurant yesterday, ICE agents sprayed newly elected Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva in the face with bear spray. She was there as a member of Congress. They didn’t care.”
- “Trump campaigned on deporting gang members, criminals, and drug dealers. What he’s actually doing is rounding people up based on skin color and accent, raiding near schools, and destroying lives.”
In a searing speech before 200 people in Tucson on Dec. 5, 2025, U.S. Senator Mark Kelly delivered a withering indictment of Donald Trump’s presidency, framing it as an existential threat to constitutional democracy, military ethics, and basic human decency.
Kelly’s sin? He recorded a short video reminding active-duty service members of the oath they took—to the Constitution and the country, not to any person or political party. A simple statement. One embedded in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. One that should be noncontroversial coming from a retired Navy pilot with 25 years of service and four space missions.
Instead, Trump responded by demanding that Kelly be executed. Trump also threatened to prosecute Kelly under military law for stating what is literally military law.
“You cannot make this stuff up,” Kelly said, his voice steady with barely contained fury. “This is how ridiculous these people are. How unprofessional. How unqualified.”
The Militarization of Authoritarian Rhetoric
Kelly’s anger runs deeper than a personal attack. He described witnessing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth running “around on a stage” with ” generals and admirals…saying, ‘warrior ethos and lethality, and we’re going to hunt and kill people.'”
“That’s not national defense. That’s the language of a tin-pot autocracy.”
When generals and a defense secretary start talking like extras in a fascist fever dream, and when a president can casually order the execution of senators, we’re not in a normal presidency anymore. You’re in uncharted, dangerous territory.
“It is not normal,” Kelly said flatly. “Let me make this perfectly clear.”
He’s right. In 250 years of American history, no president has called for members of Congress to be executed.
The Real Target: Silencing Dissent
The message was blunt: A president of the United States is now calling for members of Congress to be executed. And he’s not done yet.
But Kelly understands what’s really happening here. This isn’t about his video. It’s about silencing dissent. It’s about making every member of Congress, every federal worker, every American who speaks against Trump think twice before opening their mouth.
“The message it sends is, ‘don’t say something the president doesn’t like or he is going to come after you,'” Kelly said.
The result? Exponentially increased death threats against Kelly himself and against Gabby Giffords, his wife, a woman who was already shot in the head by a madman. Death threats that Trump’s rhetoric directly incites.
This is the pattern. After someone tries to kill Trump at a golf course, Trump immediately pivots to complaining that Democrats are too mean to him rhetorically. Then he goes right back to threats against his critics.
It’s the political violence starter pistol, and Trump keeps firing it.
Trump Is Failing: Jobs, Wages, Healthcare, and the Economy
But Kelly also laid bare the deeper failure of this presidency: Trump is simply not doing the job.
“Jobs are down. Wages are flat. Costs are up. And this president is asleep,” Kelly said. “Like literally, he’s falling asleep on the job like every day, and it’s hurting the American people.”
The healthcare crisis is crushing Arizonans. Kelly met a woman in Yuma County with three children facing $600-a-month premiums—about to spike to over $3,000. He met a couple in Lake Havasu City saw their retirement plans obliterated by rising healthcare costs. “Millions more are about to be kicked off Medicaid in 2026,” he said.
“We should be able as the richest country in the world to be able to help people who can’t afford insurance,” Kelly said.
Instead, Trump is dismantling the Department of Education, gutting federal job training programs, and raiding immigrant communities with masked ICE agents who tear-gas members of Congress.
“That last part isn’t hyperbole. During a raid near a Tucson restaurant yesterday, ICE agents sprayed newly elected Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva in the face with bear spray. She was there as a member of Congress. They didn’t care.”
The Immigration Crackdown: Un-American and Indefensible
“Trump campaigned on deporting gang members, criminals, and drug dealers. A reasonable platform. What he’s actually doing is rounding people up based on skin color and accent, raiding near schools, and destroying lives.”
Kelly met a woman—Kelly Yu from near Phoenix—who has been in ICE detention for months. “She’s a business owner who created 70 jobs. She’s been in the country for 20 years, fleeing the Communist Party. Her mother, husband, sister, and child are all U.S. citizens. She faces deportation.”
“How does it make us a better country to kick out Kelly Yu?” Senator Kelly asked. “She’s created 70 jobs. She’s got multiple businesses. This is insanity.”
The 2026 Reckoning: Why Democrats Must Win
Kelly made clear that the 2026 midterms are now a referendum on democracy itself—and he’s confident Democrats will prevail.
“We just won a special election in CD7, and it went really well,” he said, referring to the election of Adelita Grijalva. “We won because of how dumb these people are. They made her pretty famous right across the country.”
“Republicans tried to stop Adelita Grijalva from being sworn in. When another Republican was elected in another special election, they swore him in within 24 hours—different standards, same incompetence,” Kelly said.
Dems Must Volunteer, Donate, Get Others Involved
But here’s where Kelly’s message turns existential. He’s not just warning—he’s mobilizing.
“Come here and do something,” he said. “Just something. Volunteer on a campaign. If you can afford it, donate a little bit of money. Figure out something else you can do to get people more involved and get them thinking about these issues and the direction our country is going in. Because I’ll tell you what, I don’t think we’re there yet, but at some point this gets really hard to fix.”
Mark Kelly has served his country as a Navy pilot, a test pilot, an astronaut, and, now, a Senator. He knows what real service looks like. He also knows that Trump’s attack on him isn’t really about Mark Kelly. It’s about testing how far a president can go before Congress, the courts, and the American people finally push back.
“If this president thinks I’m going to back down, he’s lost his mind,” Kelly said. “I’m standing up for everybody.”
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