Washington, D.C., is reeling from a horrific attack on National Guard members, and yet Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., seems to have lost her voice when pressed on her past criticisms of President Donald Trump’s alleged military orders.
This tragic incident, compounded by political tensions over federal troop use, unfolded with a deadly shooting on Wednesday, November 26, 2025, leaving one Guard member dead and another critically injured, while Democratic lawmakers like Slotkin face scrutiny for their earlier warnings about illegal military directives, as Fox News reports.
Let’s step back to 2020, when nationwide unrest followed the tragic death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
During those protests, particularly in the nation’s capital, President Trump allegedly pressed then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper to deploy the 82nd Airborne to control peaceful demonstrators, even suggesting to target their legs with gunfire if needed, according to Esper’s memoir, "A Sacred Oath."
Trump has firmly denied ever making such a statement, calling it a fabrication, but the claim has stuck like glue in the minds of critics like Slotkin who see it as evidence of dangerous overreach.
Fast forward to earlier this month, Slotkin joined six other Democratic lawmakers in a video message aimed at military and intelligence personnel, urging them to reject any unlawful orders that could violate the Constitution or military law.
In that video, Slotkin and her colleagues didn’t hold back, pointing directly to Trump’s alleged remarks as a prime example of directives that would clash with the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
"The president in the last administration asked then-secretary (Mark) Esper to send in the 82 Airborne into Washington, D.C. to try to quell peaceful protests here in the city," Slotkin said during a January committee hearing.
"And he said, if necessary, can’t you just ‘shoot at their legs?’" she continued, framing it as a chilling misuse of power that service members must resist.
Then came the devastating attack this week on November 26, 2025, when a shooter targeted National Guard members in D.C., killing one and leaving another in critical condition.
The FBI identified the suspect as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national and former counterterrorism team member, now in custody facing first-degree murder charges.
With motives still unclear, the bureau is probing this as a potential act of terrorism, a sobering reminder of the risks our service members face even on domestic soil.
Amid this tragedy, Slotkin was asked on November 28, 2025, to revisit her earlier statements about pushing back on Trump if he ever ordered troops to harm civilians, but she stayed mum.
Her office, despite multiple requests, offered no comment, which seems odd for someone so vocal just weeks ago about the dangers of military misuse.
Is this silence a tactical retreat, or does the senator worry that revisiting her Trump critiques now might politicize a fresh wound for the National Guard community?
Let’s be clear: Protecting our streets shouldn’t mean trampling on rights, and conservatives like myself are wary of any federal overreach that smells of authoritarianism, whether it’s Trump’s alleged words or otherwise.
Yet, Slotkin’s sudden quietness after such a public campaign feels like a missed chance to clarify where she stands when real violence—not just hypothetical orders—hits close to home.
While we mourn the fallen Guard member and pray for the injured, it’s worth asking if Democrats’ warnings about illegal orders are grounded in principle or just partisan point-scoring—especially when they dodge the follow-up questions.
