Pete Hegseth announced this week that, like a scaffold executioner before a crowd of medieval peasants, he intends to turn the sentence of capital punishment into propagandic entertainment for the masses. Not everyone is cheering.
The secretary of defense
revealed in a Thursday interview that the Pentagon will livestream the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan. A former United States Army major, Hasan was convicted in court martial proceedings of murdering 13 individuals and attempting to murder 32 others in the 2009 mass shooting at the Fort Hood army base. Hasan is, by order of the Trump administration, set to be executed by firing squad on December 3. It will be the first time the military has executed someone since 1961, and — if Hegseth’s plan bears out — the first public American execution in nearly a century.
Hegseth’s announcement was met with widespread backlash.
Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops condemned the plan in a statement. “In no way can Hassan’s actions be condoned but this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered. The word of God exhorts us: ‘do not repay anyone evil for evil’ (Romans 12:17). The public execution even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people.”
Lawmakers in Congress — of both parties — rejected the plan as a potentially illegal abandonment of the laws and principles of impartial, humane justice that are supposed to undergird the criminal justice system.
“Hasan should face the death penalty, but making his execution public and streaming it? Beyond disgusting,” wrote Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). “Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do. It should not be happening in America.”
The suggestion of a public execution drew comparisons to the types of atrocities broadcast by terror groups in the early 2000s. Drew Harwell, a tech and society reporter at The Washington Post, noted that “Hegseth’s execution stream mirrors the U.S. military’s traditional description of ISIS propaganda: broadcast killings designed to send a message, strike fear and create a social media spectacle.”
Joe Kent, former director of the United States National Counterterrorism Center — and a hardline conservative and veteran — conceded that he believed Hasan deserved the death penalty, and that execution by firing squad was merciful given his crimes.
“But broadcasting his execution is beneath the dignity & decency of our nation,” he wrote on social media. “Americans will use violence if and when justified, but we do not rejoice in it. Kill him swiftly & silently. Streaming his execution is not just a stain on our morality—it also gives the terrorists free propaganda that they will use to radicalize & recruit more terrorists like Hassan.”
Senator Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) wrote on X that “the US government and victims can have justice without us creating a snuff film.”
Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) also wrote that the nation could seek justice “without glorifying violence and turning an execution into a grotesque public spectacle.”
“We as a country cannot condone livestreaming a man’s death for entertainment. We are long past the days of public hangings in the town square. Kids watch what our leaders do and say, is this kind of bloodshed really what we want them seeing,” she added.
Hegseth defended the decision, telling Real America’s Voice — a Trump-aligned right-wing media network — that Hasan carried out “a radical Islamist attack in uniform inside the ranks, and so he’s going to get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be, and we’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand there’s serious consequences for these types of things.”
Since his first term, Trump has worked to reinvigorate executions at the state and federal level — at a time when the practice was already incredibly unpopular with the general public. After a series of highly publicized botched executions, including the horrific failed execution of Christa Pike just last month, advocates of the death penalty are attempting to sell the public on potential alternatives.
On Friday, Trump defended the decision to execute Hasan via firing squad, complaining during a speech at the White House that today criminals could do “almost anything and nothing happens.”
“Death penalty through firing squad,” Trump declared, “and he deserves it.” The president then went on to brag about his efforts to criminalize make sure that anyone who would “so much as touches” a monument — such as to Andrew Jackson or former Confederate generals — would serve 10 years in jail.
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