According to Rachel VanLandingham, a former Air Force lawyer now teaching at Southwestern Law School, a Pentagon effort to recall and prosecute Kelly would be “dead on arrival” when presented to a military judge.”There’s never been a sitting lawmaker, a congressman or woman, who has been involuntarily recalled to active duty,” she said. “It just doesn’t happen.”She added that the spectacle of the defence department’s effort – the “intimidation campaign” – is the real purpose.Kelly isn’t alone in being subjected to the government’s investigative microscope. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that the FBI has plans to interview all the participating Democrats to determine if there is evidence of “wrongdoing”.Meanwhile, a CIA spokesperson said Senator Elise Slotkin of Michigan, who also participated in the video, had “joined the ranks of disgraced former intelligence officers” who have advanced “a malicious and disingenuous political agenda”.Even if this is a “spectacle”, as VanLandingham suggests, it does point to a new, growing clash between the Republicans and Democrats when it comes to patriotism and which side best embodies it.
Trump has long embraced the flag – literally, at times – and been a vocal proponent of American exceptionalism. He holds rallies in front of US soldiers and celebrates demonstrations of military might. Lee Greenwood’s Proud to be an American ballad has been the president’s preferred entrance music at rallies and other public events for years.Many on the left have been more wary of such public displays, often tacitly agreeing with an old Samuel Johnson quote about patriotism being “the last refuge of a scoundrel”.A June 2025 Gallup poll found a record low number of Democrats, 36%, said they were “extremely” or “very” proud to be an American, compared to 92% of Republicans.There have been political campaigns, such as Kamala Harris’s last year and Hillary Clinton in 2016, that have attempted to reclaim patriotism as a Democratic Party attribute.”We love our country,” Harris said at a rally in Philadelphi last August.
“And I believe it is the highest form of patriotism to fight for the ideals of our country.” The next presidential election is nearly three years away, however, and Democrats – whether through strategy or political self-preservation in the face of Trump attacks – have been striking a similar theme.Kelly, in response to news of the Pentagon investigation, said: “I don’t think there’s anything more patriotic than standing up for the Constitution.”Recent anti-Trump protests, such as last month’s nationwide No Kings Day, have framed their objections with flag-waving American pride. And Democratic leaders have sought to recruit military veterans for public office, including more than 30 potential House candidates, according to a recent New York Times report.
