And the Military Needs to Remember That.
There’s a phrase that should haunt every peace officer, soldier, general, and commander walking this earth: “I was just following orders.”
It didn’t work in 1945.
It damn sure doesn’t work now.
Let’s Take It Back to Nuremberg
After the fall of Nazi Germany, the world put its foot down. Hard.
The Nuremberg Trials were a reckoning. A courtroom showdown where top Nazi officials were held accountable for crimes against humanity. The defense that many of them gave?
“I was just following orders.”
They thought that would save them. It didn’t.
The judges at Nuremberg made it crystal clear: just doing your job isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card when that job involves cruelty, genocide, and state-sponsored evil.
From that moment on, the world established a new standard:
If you obey orders that violate human rights, you are complicit.
Not a bystander. Not a passive cog.
Complicit.
Fast Forward to Now: Why This Still Matters
Let’s not pretend we’re immune.
American troops have followed illegal orders before, whether it was massacres in Vietnam, torture in Iraq, or detaining migrants under inhumane conditions at our southern border.
And now? With a fascist-leaning strongman in power again, we’ve got a serious question to ask our military and armed forces:
Where do you stand when the Constitution and the Commander-in-Chief come into conflict?
Because if Trump or anyone like him tells you to round up citizens, silence journalists, or use force against peaceful protestors, you don’t get to say “I was just following orders.”
That excuse has expired.
You Swore an Oath To the Constitution, Not a Man
The military oath isn’t to a president.
It’s not to a party.
It’s not to a cult leader in a red hat.
It’s to the Constitution of the United States.
So if that man ever tells you to break that oath?
You say no.
You disobey.
You remember Nuremberg.
History Will Ask Where You Stood
To every service member out there:
We honor your sacrifice, your discipline, your duty.
But your loyalty must always be to justice, freedom, and the people, not to authoritarian orders dressed up in patriotism.
If it ever comes down to it, and we hope it doesn’t, we need you on the right side of history.
Because we’ve seen what happens when people choose obedience over morality.