I’m glad Pete Hegseth wants to livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Malik Hasan.
Not because I support the death penalty; I don’t. And not because I think firing squads are humane; they’re not. And not because I think Hasan is innocent; he’s not.
Mark Wingfield
I’m glad our self-proclaimed secretary of war wants to make a public spectacle out of this execution because the whole world needs to comprehend what monsters he and his boss, Donald Trump, are.
The lesson to be learned here is not about the crime committed by Hasan — which is horrible. The lesson is how bloodthirsty the MAGA leaders are.
While we’re at it, let’s livestream the Trump administration’s cruel roundup of legal citizens and their imprisonment in cages. Let’s livestream the immigration hearings where 3-year-olds are forced to represent themselves in court because Trump took away their lawyers. Let’s livestream the ICE shootings of peaceful citizen protesters. Let’s broadcast the deportation flights where fathers are separated from their wives and children.
“Too many Americans have lost the ability to be shocked and horrified by the moral rot of this administration.”
Too many Americans have lost the ability to be shocked and horrified by the moral rot of this administration. We need to see it all. Americans must be forced to no longer avert their eyes from the insanity because it makes them uncomfortable. Play it on national TV. Let everyone see plainly how we are living in a combination of The Hunger Games and The Handmaids’ Tale.
Something somehow has got to get through to the roughly 30% of Americans who won’t abandon Trump regardless of how demented and dastardly he becomes.
Maybe Trump should take center ring like he used to do on those pro wrestling matches. Let him take full credit for what’s going on. He deserves the blood splatter to show up on his overly made-up face like sweat rolling off fake wrestlers.
Trump and Hegseth and their fellow cabinet members — all of them — are the executioners. Make sure they all get front-row seats.
Of course, there’s a strong possibility Trump’s supporters will actually like seeing this cruelty up-close and personal. They seem equally bloodthirsty.
Here’s the problem, though. At least one of the problems. Jesus said it best: “Those who live by the sword will die by the sword.”
“Trump and Hegseth and their fellow cabinet members — all of them — are the executioners.”
Remember the Romanoffs of Russia.
Remember Nicolae Ceaușescu of Romania.
Remember Benito Mussolini of Italy.
Remember Francisco Macías Nguema of Equatorial Guinnea.
Hear Hegseth’s own words about Hasan: “He’s going to get a firing squad of soldiers. As it should be. We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it. That it’s public. Because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things.”
Yes, sir, there must be serious consequences for the types of things you are doing as well — things more cruel and far-reaching than Hasan killing 13 people and injuring 32 others. That’s barely a month’s work for you and your missile-slinging agenda that blows fishermen out of boats and executes schoolchildren at study. It’s barely a day’s work for Trump and Stephen Miller and JD Vance and Elon Musk taking food and medicine from needy people around the world and sentencing them to certain death. It’s an afterthought for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is so delusional that he’s causing children to die unnecessarily due to his unfounded fear of vaccines.
Be careful what you wish for, because those who live by the sword will die by the sword. Not my words, and not my wish; just the words of Jesus.
So yeah, let the revolution be televised.
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global.