Orders Without Honor

A relentless look at the second strike, the lies that followed, and the pathetic political theater that proves this administration fears accountability more than any foreign enemy.

Guest article by Michael Cohen. Remember to follow him on Substack for more by clicking here. Michael is also racing to 500K followers on YouTube! Subscribe today for free here.

I always believed the term double tap referenced the mannerless creep at the dinner table who dunks his French fry—or worse, a mozzarella stick—into the communal bowl of ketchup or tomato sauce, takes a slobbering half-bite, and then dunks it again. Nothing evokes the sensation of throwing up in your mouth quite like watching somebody baptize their bacteria-laced leftovers in a shared condiment. It’s the kind of social crime that makes you want to flip the table over and storm out of the restaurant gagging and dry heaving.

But it turns out I was being generous. Because the real definition of Double Tap is infinitely more grotesque, more barbaric, and more morally bankrupt than anything involving fries and ketchup crust.

In the world of warfare, Double Tap is the deliberate secondary strike on an already incapacitated, defenseless person. A second order. A second hit. A second killing; after the threat is already neutralized. After surrender. After injury. After the fight is over. It’s the military equivalent of stomping on a man already lying unconscious on the pavement while the entire world watches.

It is, by every definition available, a war crime.

And yet, here we are: discussing it not as a fringe allegation or a conspiracy theory whispered in dark corners, but as something that reportedly happened under the watch of an administration that treats the rules of war the same way it treats the rules of ethics, the Constitution, or marriage vows: optional, inconvenient, and best ignored.

Enter Pete Hegseth, Trump’s favorite Fox-flavored war pundit, who stood before generals and admirals just three weeks ago and proudly declared, “We don’t fight with stupid rules of engagement.” That’s not a dog whistle. That’s a bullhorn. It’s a declaration that the laws of war, crafted in the ashes of our darkest history, are nothing more than bureaucratic clutter to be tossed aside. It’s the kind of statement that tells you exactly how we got here; how the line between lawful engagement and criminal brutality became a smudge on a fogged-up visor.

Hegseth even claimed he “watched the strike live.” Of course he did. These guys livestream everything except accountability.

And accountability is exactly where the story turns. Admiral Bradley—whom Hegseth rushed onto X to crown “an American hero,” a “true professional,” and the recipient of his “100% support”—was unquestionably operating within his authority during that first strike; the full video and audio make that clear. The White House echoed the same line. But when questions shifted to the second strike, suddenly the patriotic cheerleading started to look like pre-spin. Critics accused Hegseth and the administration of bolstering Bradley publicly while quietly grooming him as the fall guy for their own deficient decisions.

Because what followed, allegedly, was a second order.

A second strike.

A “kill them all” order.

Double Tap.

And that is where the wheels come off.

Now, credit where credit is due, the GOP leadership did something remarkable: they agreed the incident must be investigated. Miracles happen, I suppose. Maybe this is what it takes—a second strike on a defenseless boat of men—to jolt a conscience awake.

Senator Wicker, when asked directly whether it was a war crime, said the committee would “find out what the true facts are, and then there’ll be a determination about that.” Bureaucratic, yes, but at least he didn’t call it “perfect” or “beautiful” or “the best boat strike in history.”

Senator Thune delivered what might be the most unintentionally honest word salad I’ve heard in a decade: “We will find out what happened when, and you know what orders were given. I think all of the particulars, you want to know what the facts are, and then you want to compare that with the relevant and figure out, you know, procedurally, you know, what’s the, you know, the correct lawful way to do things, and determine whether or not everything was followed.”

If you can translate that into English, God bless you. But buried in the mumbling is the correct premise: we compare conduct with law. And if the law says no second strike, then it’s criminal. Period. End of the story.

Then there’s Senator Jim Justice, offering this masterpiece of Appalachian free association: “I’m not comfortable with the two blow… you know… if that really happened… it would be harsh to think we have defenseless people and we do a second strike… I don’t… I don’t understand that.”

Me neither, Senator. But at least we agree that killing defenseless people is bad. That’s progress in 2025, apparently.

And finally, shockingly, Senator Rand Paul, in a rare moment of moral clarity, said it plainly:
“It is not permitted, under the laws and customs of honorable warfare, to order that no quarter be given—to apply lethal force to those who surrender or are injured, shipwrecked, or otherwise unable to fight.”

And that’s the point. Right there. The whole damn thing.

You can’t kill the defenseless. You can’t wage war on the unarmed. You can’t execute men floating on the wreckage of a boat after the danger is over; not even if you’re the president who pardoned the former leader of Honduras, a man charged with running one of the largest drug enterprises in modern history. Because, allegedly, this is all about protecting America and the world from illegal drugs.

The law is the law, even when Trump hates it.

And the Double Tap?
That’s not toughness.
That’s not strategy.
That’s not America.

It’s cowardice masquerading as strength.

And if we allow it—if we excuse it, justify it, spin it, or shrug it off—we become the nation that dunked the fry twice. Only this time, the aftertaste isn’t ketchup.

It’s blood.

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