Observers attuned to the patterns of the Trump era knew instantly — beyond the shadow of a doubt — that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump had not called for Liz Cheney’s execution on Thursday night in spite of the press’s collective effort to convince the world that he had.
At an event hosted by Tucker Carlson on Thursday evening, Trump attacked Cheney by noting that “She wanted to stay in Syria. I took them out. She wanted to stay in Iraq. I took them out,” and declaring that if it were “up to her, we’d be in 50 different countries.”
“She’s a radical warhawk,” he submitted before continuing:
Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, ok? Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face. You know, they’re all warhawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building saying, ‘Oh, gee, let’s send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy.’
But she’s a stupid person, and I used to have, I’d have meetings with a lot of people, and she always wanted to go to war with people. So whether it’s her, whether it’s-, I was surprised a little bit with Dick Cheney. I didn’t know him at all. I only had essentially the one or two phone calls, and it was only a call saying, ‘Thank you very much for doing that for Scooter Libby, that was nice.’
This is not responsible, much less presidential rhetoric. And it’s also not a cogent, well-formed argument. But it’s important to be precise, and it’s simply not true that Trump called for Cheney to be executed.
You could be forgiven for thinking otherwise, though.
The Drudge Report, as well as MSNBC’s Morning Joe crew — among many others — amplified the “execution” lie.
CNN’s Kasie Hunt joined in the fun by asserting that Trump had called for Cheney to be “fired upon.”
Reuters led with the headline, “Trump suggests Liz Cheney should face firing squad for her foreign policy stance.”
And Cheney herself argued that Trump had threatened her life, writing on X that “This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death.”
“Trump Derangement Syndrome” is overused, given that the Orange Man is, in fact, bad. But if you are pretending to be unable to read at a 5th-grade level to make your case against him, you have been well and truly deranged.
Trump was not calling for Cheney to be “fired upon” or killed, or even placed in danger. He was making the case that Cheney’s foreign policy views are contingent upon her insulation from their consequences. This “chickenhawk” argument is one that’s been made for decades, especially against interventionists like Cheney (and this author).
There are lots of reasons to dismiss the chickenhawk charge as lame at best and detestable at worst. It’s a dishonest ad hominem debate tactic that elides the important conversation we should have about national security and America’s role in upholding the world order. Moreover, the United States has a civilian-controlled military for good reason, and Americans are entitled to their views regardless of whether they’ve been sent to the front lines.
But to level it, as Trump so crudely did at Cheney on Thursday, is plainly not to call for her execution, but to accuse her of being a misguided coward.
That accusation doesn’t come anywhere close to landing, given Trump’s own lack of military service and Cheney’s demonstrable political courage, but it’s not a death threat.
Donald Trump belongs nowhere near the presidency. His poor character renders him uniquely unsuited to the office. But by lying about him in an effort to keep him away from it, the media has only strengthened his position by overshadowing his sins with their own.
It’s not the first time — and it won’t be the last.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
