    [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 38 (Wednesday, February 26, 2025)]
    [House]
    [Page H861]
    From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                                  {time}  1700
                              REMOVING ROADBLOCKS

      (Mr. MOULTON asked and was given permission to address the House for
    1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
      Mr. MOULTON. Mr. Speaker, in President Trump's first term, facing a
    crowd of protesters, he asked our military: Can't you just shoot them?
    Just shoot them in the legs or something?
      Thankfully, his former Secretary of Defense shot down that idea.
      Today, the President seems to be choosing military leadership he
    believes will say yes. He is purging dedicated, capable leaders with no
    explanation other than removing roadblocks.
      This is a blatant attempt to politicize our military, replacing
    loyalty to our Constitution with political loyalty to Trump.
      Our Founding Fathers designed our military to be explicitly
    apolitical. They must be rolling in their graves today.
      When I joined the Marines in 2001, I raised my right hand and swore
    an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States just like every
    other servicemember and veteran. That oath is sacred. We swear our
    lives, to kill and to die, if necessary, to the United States, not to
    the President.
      The Trump administration must not be allowed to undermine that oath.

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