‘COMPLETELY DERANGED’

Political Enemies Unite to Slam Ghoulish Pentagon Pete Plot

Politicians from across party lines are calling out the defense secretary’s “barbaric” plan.

Political enemies are uniting to call out Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s announcement that he will livestream the execution of Fort Hood mass shooter Nidal Hasan.

President Donald Trump‘s one-time White House communications director, Alyssa Farah Griffin, was among conservatives who say they support the execution of a terrorist like Hasan but not streaming it for all to see.

“I support the death penalty, especially for terrorists,” The View co-host wrote on X. “But I think it’s toxic for society to live-stream an execution. And bad for the human soul to tune in to watch.”

Republican lawmakers echoed her opinion.

Outgoing Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said Hegseth was dragging the United States down to the level of oppressive dictatorships.

“Hasan should face the death penalty, but making his execution public and streaming it? Beyond disgusting,” he said. “Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do. It should not be happening in America.”

Republican Joe Kent, an Iraq War veteran and former CIA paramilitary officer who resigned from the Trump administration in March over the president’s war with Iran, called plans to livestream the execution “beneath the dignity & decency of our nation.”

“It also gives the terrorists free propaganda that they will use to radicalize & recruit more terrorists like Hassan,” he wrote on X.

Christina Hoff Sommers, of the American Enterprise Institute, and Josh Rogin, the lead global security analyst at The Washington Post, both called the decision “barbaric.”

By conducting a public execution, something the United States has not done since the hanging of Rainey Bethea in 1936, the country will join the likes of Iran and Afghanistan as the only countries still carrying out capital punishment in public, according to The Guardian.

Play Video

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, of Connecticut, reacted viscerally when he learned of the execution plan while live on CNN. He called the plot “galling” and “disgusting,” and questioned whether Hegseth was “mimicking ISIS executions.”

“I understand that in this country we have the death penalty, but public executions is medieval,” he said. “It’s frankly one of the things that we abhor about terrorist groups, and the fact that the United States is doing it, I just learned this, that is just absolutely extraordinary, galling.”

MAGA MEETS ISIS

Hegseth Hatches Barbaric Scheme for Military Execution

Lauren Hartley

Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum, of Minnesota, was also appalled.

“Secretary Hegseth’s desire to conduct a public execution is disturbing and should be stopped,” she wrote on X. “The Army has not conducted an execution by firing squad since World War II, and the U.S. has not had a public execution since 1936. Nidal Hasan has been found guilty of his crimes and should be held accountable for them, but turning a federal execution into a media spectacle is appalling and unbecoming of the U.S. military.”

DNC vice chair Malcolm Kenyatta suggested the public execution is to distract from issues with the economy and the ongoing, unsuccessful war in Iran.

“Us: we want housing, food, and gas that we can afford!” he wrote. “Trump and Republicans: how about we live stream an execution?”

Hasan, a Palestinian-American U.S. Army major, fatally shot 13 people and injured more than 30 others at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, 2009, in the deadliest mass shooting on a U.S. Army base.

While many MAGA officials have remained mum on the issue, the Trumpy Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee endorsed the public execution.

“Excellent. Public execution is what this terrorist deserves,” Ogles wrote on X. “We will be watching.”

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Josh FialloBreaking News Reporter

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.