'President Trump is trying to silence me, threatening to kill me for saying what is true'

Today Senator Mark Kelly delivered a speech that made me think of John Glenn and his famous Gold Star Mothers speech.

In many ways it’s a better and more important speech than Glenn’s, although delivered in less dramatic but infinitely more troubling circumstances. In 1974, John Glenn seized upon an ill advised point made by a Democratic primary opponent, Howard Metzenbaum who said said that Glenn hadn’t worked a payroll job, and that might make him less qualified for the role of being Senator. So began ‘The Gold Star Mothers Speech’, which might be the greatest debate slapdown of all time:

Earlier today, Senator Mark Kelly was responding to threats from President Trump and Secretary of Defense Hegseth. At the end of the speech he leaned into the contrasting ways they have served their county:

President Trump has crossed the line.

And this time it’s not going to work. I will not be intimidated by this president. I am not going to be silenced by this president or the people around him because I’ve given too much in service to this country to back down to this guy.

In 1991, when Donald Trump was driving the Taj Mahal casino into bankruptcy, I was getting shot at over Iraq and Kuwait.

In 2001, after Donald Trump said that the collapse of the Twin Towers meant he now owned the tallest skyscraper in Manhattan. I was carrying flags honoring 9/11 victims into space on a rocket ship.

In 2003, when Donald Trump was writing birthday greetings to the monster Jeffrey Epstein, I was the first on the scene to recover the bodies of my fellow astronauts who died when Space Shuttle Colombia exploded during re-entry in 2011.

When Trump was hosting a reality show and pedalling conspiracy theories against President Barack Obama, I was sitting next to my wife’s hospital bed as she recovered from a gunshot wound to the head.

My point is this. I’ve been through a lot worse in service to my country. The president and Pete Hegsath are not going to silence me. They aren’t going to keep me from speaking out and they’re not going to keep me from doing my job.

It’s incredible stuff, but of course these are incredible and unprecedented times. The speech starts at 11.40 above and is really worth a watch.

The sections regarding the president’s bullying and the nation’s descent into political violence are amazing too.

The full transcript is below.

Best wishes

Tony Wilson

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Sen. Mark Kelly: “President Trump is trying to silence me, threatening to kill me for saying what is true”, Capitol Hill

1 December 2025

Good afternoon everybody. Seems like most of you guys are here and thank you for taking the time. Uh let me get started. So throughout his entire career in business, reality TV, and politics, Donald Trump has had one and only one play, bullying his opponents into silence.

He did it as a failed casino owner who bankrupted his properties and screwed over his contractors. He did it as a reality TV host known for firing people. And he’s done it as as president who tries every day to intimidate people with no regards for the rights or well-being of the American people.

I’ll say this for the guy. While he’s never seemed to do much else right, for most of Donald Trump’s career, bullying people has worked out for him.

But not now. Because I won’t let it happen. The American people won’t let it happen. President Trump is trying to silence me, threatening to kill me for saying what is true.

And he sent his Secretary of Defense after me. And it’s not going to work.

Here’s how we got here. A week and a half ago, Senator Slaken and I along with others who also served in the military and the intelligence communities, we released a video with a simple message to service members that they must refuse illegal orders.

Nothing was controversial about that.

Everyone must follow the law. No one may break the law. This is pretty basic stuff. Seeing that video, here’s how any other president would have responded.

They would have said two words, ‘of course’.

But that’s not how this president responded. We become so accustomed to Donald Trump’s behavior that it is worth emphasizing. The president of the United States said that two US senators and four members of the House of Representatives should be arrested, hanged, executed for something we said, for something that is true.

My family knows the cost of political violence. My wife Gabby was shot in the head and nearly died while speaking with her constituents.