Special operators in elite military units are the tip of the spear of US counterinsurgency campaigns around the globe. Their exploits in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other fronts in the global “war on terror” have become fodder for scores of action films like American Sniper, fanboy books by journalists covering the military, and tell-all memoirs by SEAL Team 6 members involved in the rubout of Osama bin Laden and other targets.

In the not always secretive world of special operations, few post-9/11 warriors have become better known than Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, a chief petty officer much beloved by former president Donald Trump. When Gallagher faced a 2019 court-martial for allegedly killing a wounded ISIS prisoner in Iraq and committing other war crimes, Trump assured his supporters that he would “always stick up for our great fighters.” True to his word, after Gallagher was acquitted of all but a lesser charge (taking a trophy shot of the dead Iraqi teenager), Trump blocked a navy attempt to demote him and take away his trident pin, the coveted symbol of SEAL Team membership.

Among those joining the “Free Eddie” campaign was former marine Duncan Hunter, a Republican congressman from San Diego who stole $200,000 in campaign funds and avoided jail only thanks to a Trump pardon. As Hunter argued on Fox News, Gallagher “is the kind of guy we want out there killing for us, killing bad guys. He shouldn’t be going to court at all for doing his job.”