Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice—Contempt Toward Officials ucmj.us/888-article-88-contempt-toward-officials/ —states:
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Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Transportation, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.
Even though I was a mere enlisted police officer in the Air Force during the Cold War, even I knew that one. When you join the military, you become part of something bigger than yourself and your individual rights and desires. In fact, some of those rights are suspended to uphold military discipline. Among them is an unfettered right to free speech. You largely shut up, keep your eyes open, do your duty, and follow orders.
I might have had an argument with the part about no contempt toward the Secretary of Transportation when Pete Buttigieg sort of held that position, but the UCMJ is there for a reason. Sure, troops gripe incessantly about all manner of people and policies, but so long as they do it privately and quietly, it’s not a problem. When it’s not done privately and quietly, it is:
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A U.S. Air Force major was arrested Wednesday for protesting alone on House steps as he called for the immediate impeachment and removal of President Donald Trump.
Maj. Jason Watson was arrested by Capitol Police officers at approximately 1:15 p.m. local time for demonstrating on the House steps without a sitting member of Congress, Capitol Police told Military Times. Watson, an active-duty service member with a military career dating over 20 years, walked halfway up the steps of the House to its chained railing to hold a sign that read “Impeach Convict Remove.”
Watson was first escorted to the bottom of the steps by Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, who then left the area, causing the officers to arrest Watson under 22-1307 Crowding, Obstructing and Incommoding.
“When the Member of Congress left the area, our officers gave the man lawful orders to stop the illegal demonstration, or he would be arrested,” the spokesperson said. “The man refused our lawful orders.”
Al Green? He’s the dimwitted Democrat Congressman infamous for disrupting President Trump’s State of the Union addresses and perpetually calling for him to be impeached. He was recently primaried and lost. What was he doing there?
Prior to the protest, Watson held a press conference alongside Greene, Denson, constitutional lawyer Bruce Fein, Defenders of Our Republic and About Face Veterans, calling on Trump’s and Vice President JD Vance’s impeachment and removal from office.
Ah. Watson is a useful idiot for Congressional Democrats
Denson, who introduced Watson for his speech, said that Watson is currently on leave from his commission post as a logistics readiness officer in Poland. She said that he approached the Removal Coalition in February and asked them to create this event for him so that it would not be in “vain.”
And what was Watson’s complaint?
He said that the greatest threat to the country’s democratic republic was not a foreign one but domestic. “We the people” have played a part in getting the country into the “mess we are all in,” he said.
“For the past 18 months, we the people have allowed the highest levels of the executive branch of the federal government to violate our Constitution and their oaths to it with impunity,” Watson stated.
Watson apparently said he is “not a Democrat.” You could have fooled me:
Watson said there are “innumerable more impeachable offenses” that he could list, including denying congressional oversight of immigrant detention centers, suing media, law firms and educational institutions, weaponizing the Department of Justice and attempting to reverse birthright citizenship.
It’s possible Watson could be dishonorably discharged and lose his pension, and he should. No other commissioned, active-duty officer has ever demonstrated such contempt for President Trump and Vice President Vance.
Is Watson more of a useful idiot than this incident would suggest? He could have retired—he reportedly has more than 20 years to his credit—and then been free to criticize Trump and opine on politics to his heart’s content, but he somehow thought this futile act would have some meaning. That it would get him noticed? Did someone, someone allied with Al Green, put him up to this?
Watson is probably right. He will be remembered as a man who violated his oath and threw away a military career for absolutely nothing.
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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, lifelong athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer, and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.
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