'Not the words of a sane person': Rep. Jason Crow urges U.S. Service Members to ignore Trump's orders

Following President Donald Trump's expletive-laden messages to Iran, a growing number of political leaders have raised questions over his fitness to hold office. Referring to Trump's Truth Social post in which he threatened to "wipe out an entire civilisation," Rep. Jason Crow called it "not the words of a sane person."  Urging all Americans to repudiate such remarks, the former Army Ranger called on the military to follow only lawful orders and abstain from committing any war crimes.

On Tuesday morning, the President doubled down on his Easter Sunday threats of bombing power plants and bridges in Iran, saying, "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will," in a Truth Social post. Trump had imposed a deadline of 8 p.m. EDT for Tehran to reopen the critical oil shipping lane, the Strait of Hormuz, which had been choked shortly after the conflict began. The series of threat-laden messages caused an uproar among lawmakers and Democratic leaders as they claimed the President was not fit for office and was about to commit war crimes. "These are not the words of a sane person. Calling for the elimination of a civilization is a war crime," Crow, a Bronze Star recipient who served three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, wrote in his post on X. 

He further urged the military to follow the law and said every American "of good conscience" must repudiate the remarks of the President. Crow also appeared in an interview on CNN's "The Arena," where he repeated his request to U.S. service men to follow only lawful orders.  “If [Trump] attempts to follow through on it, my message to the military servicemen and women that would have to follow through on those orders is they have an obligation to follow the Constitution, and they have an obligation to follow the law," Crow told the host Kasie Hunt. He added that the service members would be held accountable if they commit war crimes, and they may not enjoy the same immunity as the President.

Apart from Crow, a wave of Democrats have called for the removal of Trump from office, deeming him "unstable" and "unfit". Lawmakers urged the Senate to bring articles of impeachment against the president and move to convict and remove him from office. Rep. Ed Markey also called up Vice President JD Vance and the Trump Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and sideline the president to stop the war immediately. While it was unlikely for Democrats to gain support from Congress or the Cabinet, the calls for removal seem to be temporarily subdued as Trump announced that Washington and Tehran had agreed to a conditional two-week ceasefire. The President confirmed that Iran had agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz with some technical conditions and presented the U.S. with a 10-point proposal to end the conflict. Pakistan's Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, who mediated the negotiations, said the ceasefire was effective immediately, according to BBC.