How will Arizona Sen. Kelly's viral video, investigation affect his political future?

Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly continues to criticize both President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over military strikes in the Caribbean. This, of course, follows Hegseth saying his department was investigating Kelly over his involvement in a video reminding military members that they should not follow illegal orders.

Trump, for his part, has called the video seditious and originally called for the members of Congress who recorded it to be executed. The president later walked back those comments and said he was not threatening death.

This story continues to be generating attention, and Arizona’s senior senator continues to be at the center of it. And while that has policy and safety implications, it also has political impacts for Kelly.

With The Show to talk about that last part is Chuck Coughlin of HighGround Public Affairs.

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Full conversation

MARK BRODIE: Chuck, what do you make of everything going on between Trump, Hegseth and Kelly? They’ve all had some pretty harsh language from Kelly’s perspective, what do you make of all this?

CHUCK COUGHLIN: I think it's great for him. I mean, he's exploiting this opportunity that is suggesting, rightly so, that officers and people in the military shouldn't obey illegal orders. Pretty broad statement, right. But it clearly planted in the, in the Trump fish mouth there. And he's been fishing away with it ever since. Because there's all these orders that we all are wondering about.

With all the drug boats getting destroyed in Central America, with the positioning of American troops in American cities. You know, you have all this kind of anxiety that is created. And so it's a perfect foil for him with his record as an astronaut and as a fighter pilot, and to remind people what the military code of justice says.

BRODIE: Well, so do you have to separate out the pure politics from it, from everything else? Because Kelly has talked about how, you know, he's gotten more death threats since President Trump called him seditious and call for him to be executed. Like, how do you sort of separate that out or balance the potential political gain versus maybe everything else that goes with something like this?

COUGHLIN: It's part of the narrative today. It is what Trump has done, as what he's created is this threatening narrative and this constituency. I mean, Marjorie Taylor Greene was getting death threats. And so in following that, this is a general line of thinking that goes on. Now, whether, and I think he knows it, I think he's gotta know it, and he knows that it freezes his political opposition to some degree.

Marjorie Taylor Greene's gonna leave the house. Yeah. You know, he bullied her out. You know, going back to the Jeff Flake here, he bullied Jeff Flake out. He's bullied a bunch of people out of the game. And you wonder where the end of that string runs. Kelly has brought about a narrative possibility for a change here because it's over the top.

BRODIE: Well, so what are the advantages to Kelly? Obviously, I would think name ID would be one of them. For people who maybe don't know who he is already, this certainly elevates his name ID. Are there other benefits to him besides that?

COUGHLIN: I think so. I think it creates, you know, he was on this short list for discussion on the vice presidential ticket last time, and so he has this sort of perfect narrative lined up. And so, you know, this is the kind of narrative that would appeal to a much broader audience, that the Democrats have been, had difficulty communicating with because of their romance with identity politics has prevented them from being able to reach a broader audience.

So Kelly provides that template, and I think this narrative in particular provides him that opportunity to distinguish himself and drive it. The question is, is it enough? What more is there here? And is he doing enough with that?

BRODIE: Right. Well, certainly, I mean, there have been plenty of foils to President Trump and not suggesting in any way that Mark Kelly's purpose in putting this video out or participating in this video was purely politics. I don't want to get into anybody's motivation or get into anybody's head.

COUGHLIN: I can do that.

BRODIE: You're welcome to do that. I will stay away from that. There are certainly plenty of other foils to President Trump right now. You think about California Gov. Gavin Newsom, you think about many others.

Does this in any way set Kelly apart? And if so, like, what does he do with this? If he's getting more name ID, if it's helping set the narrative, what does he do with it?

COUGHLIN: Yeah, that's the question. As you go into the next presidential cycle, after this midterms up, first and foremost, can you undermine Trump in the midterms? Can you create a patriotic narrative about your country, your service, your commitment and your philosophical commitment about the country and what it stands for, and contrast that with Trump as an effective foil in a midterm election?

Can you create a platform on which you can operate off of and communicate with broadly in the course of this midterm election to assist other candidates, to assist in, you know, reimagining what the Democratic Party is? Can this become a part of that Democratic Party going forward? That would be the midterm goal.

And then beyond that, is, it is up to him to decide what else to do with this? I think it's a little thin gruel to think that you can drive this thing, you know, into the presidential cycle. It's a stepping stone. But as we saw, what Trump did with the Republican Party is he flipped it on its head.

And you really need to do that again with today because the existing narratives about the two parties are not helpful to the Democratic Party.

BRODIE: I'm wondering if you see any comparison or parallel between what we've been talking about with Mark Kelly and the new member of Congress from Arizona's 7th Congressional District, Adelita Grijalva. Obviously, the situations are very different, the circumstances, but she was put in a situation that was not really of her making, but at least politically, just politics. She really seemed to try to make the most of it and build her name ID. And like, am I looking for a comparison that's not there?

COUGHLIN: No, it's there. But she was a classic example of what's wrong with the current system. Republicans control everything. And they wouldn't even seat her in Congress. They wouldn't even give that district was not, was held voiceless because of strictly partisanship. But, you know, they used that for a period of time. They'll continue to use it to vilify the Speaker of the House, as they should, for not swearing her in instantaneously. I mean, that's incredibly partisan behavior, which I don't think most Americans support.

BRODIE: Obviously, I'm not hearing anybody talking about Adelita Grijalva running for president as we're talking about Mark Kelly potentially running for president in three years. But, like, what does she do with her new name ID boost? Like, obviously not everybody knows who she is now, but I would imagine more people know her name and who she is now than had she not been precluded from taking her seat for more than a month.

COUGHLIN: I mean, if I'm Sen. Kelly, I'm hauling her around with me as a Class 1 example of our broken system today and why it needs to be changed. And if I'm her, a freshman congressman, one of 435 members in Congress who has less seniority than anybody else in Congress, I'm jumping on that train.

I'm going to see where that train can help me boost my name ID, help me boost my fundraising potential. You know, remember when AOC won in New York against an established Democrat? You know, I would try and mimic from her perspective how to navigate her career in that way that gives her a bigger platform to work off of.