President Donald Trump and Republicans have been outspoken regarding issues of increasing , particularly following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Yet, when Trump himself a group of Democratic lawmakers, alleging sedition, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, one of those Democrats, highlighted his GOP colleagues’ subsequent silence.

“We’ve heard very little, basically crickets, from Republicans in the United States Congress about what the President has said about hanging members of Congress,” Kelly on Sunday.

The next day, the Trump Administration intensified its attacks on the group of Democrats, who had called on servicemembers to resist “illegal orders” in a video last week. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth the group—comprising Kelly, Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Rep. Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, and Rep. Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania—as “the Seditious Six” and stated that his department would specifically investigate Kelly, a retired Navy captain, for a potential breach of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, possibly recalling him for court-martial proceedings.

While most Republican lawmakers have remained silent, one House member—Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska—criticized the Administration’s latest action.

“Amateur hour once again at the Department of Dense,” Bacon late Monday. “I thought the video by six Dems was unnecessary and foolish. But the threats of sedition charges and courts martial in response are also crazy. Let’s show some common sense and restraint.”

In responses on X, Bacon reiterated his position, characterizing the Democrats’ video as and while calling the Trump Administration’s threats .

Bacon is among a limited number of Republicans who haven’t entirely conformed to Trump’s agenda. The 62-year-old Air Force veteran, initially elected in 2016, has established a reputation as a centrist, as the Republican Party shifts further right under Trump. Bacon has diverged from the party on multiple occasions: he following the earlier this year, Trump as “weak” and “pro-Russian” in his approach to the war in Ukraine to the , and has despite the President asserting executive powers to establish them.

In June, Bacon that he would not seek a sixth term in Congress in the 2026 midterms, telling reporters he wished to be remembered, as he’d , as “a Christian first, American second, then a Republican.”

While Bacon is a rarity among current GOP lawmakers, several former Republicans have also denounced the Trump Administration’s accusations of sedition against political opponents.

Former Sen. Jeff Flake, who opted not to seek re-election in 2018, backed Joe Biden over Trump in the 2020 election, and subsequently served as an Ambassador under President Biden, defended his fellow Arizonan in a , describing Kelly as “a good man who has honorably served his country in the past and continues to do so honorably in the U.S. Senate.”

“Common sense and basic morality should have prevented the outrage,” former Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who made multiple runs for President as a Republican and a Libertarian, . “The uniform code of military justice claims that military personnel have a ‘legal and ethical’ duty to disregard unlawful orders. This is a worthy debate that needs to occur.”

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois—who earlier this year mentioned he is probably to a Democrat now after exiting Congress in 2023, having been one of the few Republicans to vote for Trump’s impeachment post-Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot—responded on X to the Defense Department’s announcement of its investigation into Kelly, : “This won’t end how you think it will.”

And former Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, a frequent intraparty critic of Trump who briefly left the GOP to identify as a Libertarian before leaving Congress in 2021, that “the chances of a successful prosecution” in Kelly’s case are “zero point zero percent”—a view largely echoed by legal scholars in comments to the .

“Everything with this administration is performative nonsense to cater to an ever-shrinking base,” Amash said. “We don’t live in North Korea. Anyone here can freely state that service members must refuse unlawful orders.”