SOMEWHERE IN HELL, CHARLIE KIRK IS CHEERING ON PETE HEGSETH

I'm sure you know this:

The firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed, the Pentagon said Thursday....

[Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth, speaking to the conservative TV outlet Real America’s Voice on Wednesday, said, “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public.” Officials in the Pentagon clarified Thursday that the execution would be livestreamed and that more details would follow.

Predictably, Hegseth was almost gleeful as he announced this to his interviewer, Jack Posobiec.

Hegseth on Nidal Hasan: "He's gonna 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."

[image or embed]

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) October 8, 2026 at 2:36 PM

I'm pleased that there's some pushback among Republicans. I don't mean outgoing senator Thom Tillis, who tweeted,

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

Tillis doesn't impress me because he just a published a book called How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents: The Trouble with Sycophants, Courage Outsourcing, and Partisan Groupthink, which he's promoting primarily in the non-conservative media. He may be in search of a job as a professional apostate Republican on CNN or MS NOW, if he hasn't already lined a position up. He's no longer a Republican in good standing.

I'm somewhat more impressed by the denunciation from libertarian Robby Soave, who tweeted:

I sympathize with the thirst for vengeance, and Nidal Hasan certainly deserves to die for what he did… but a public execution is giving a terrorist exactly what he wants: publicity. They fantasize about being martyred like this, in front of a crowd (and a live TV audience???). It’s ISIS recruitment slop.

Soave still some credibility on the right, as do Kathryn Jean Lopez and Erick Erickson, who denounce Hegseth's plan on religious grounds. Between them, they quote the Bible, St. Francis Xavier, and St. Augustine to explain their disgust.

But Erickson also knows he's at odds with the current right-wing zeitgeist:

Over to you, random internet dude who claims to be a committed Christian in the Presbyterian Church in America:

I don't want to overpraise Erick Erickson. He's a right-wing attack dog who sometimes goes through phases of heterodoxy that make him appear reasonable, thoughtful, and moral. It won't last. But it's good to see that there's some room for doubt about this on the right.

But probably not much. Donald Trump was proposing the release of execution videos back in 2023, according to Rolling Stone:

“What do you think of firing squads?”

That’s the question Donald Trump repeatedly asked some close associates in the run-up to the 2024 presidential campaign, three people familiar with the situation tell Rolling Stone....

Specifically, Trump has talked about bringing back death by firing squad, by hanging, and, according to two of the sources, possibly even by guillotine....

In at least one instance late last year, according to the third source, who has direct knowledge of the matter, Trump privately mused about the possibility of creating a flashy, government-backed video-ad campaign that would accompany a federal revival of these execution methods. In Trump’s vision, these videos would include footage from these new executions, if not from the exact moments of death.

Last month, CNN reported that the most zeitgeist-y Republican in America, Texas railroad commissioner candidate Bo French, repeatedly called for the execution of political figures he doesn't like, including Barack Obama and Adam Schiff; French repeatedly used the hashtag #HangEmHigh. Also:

... February 2025 tweets include multiple calls for executions against government officials he said were exposed by DOGE....

French wrote at the time that DOGE, which was an acronym of Department of Government Efficiency, should actually stand for “Dangle Officials Gallows Expeditiously,” adding in other tweets he wanted “more than perp walks” and “public executions,” for government officials he said were exposed by DOGE.

And then there was the time in 2024 that Charlie Kirk practiced politics the right way by calling for public executions and recommending that children watch them:

On his weekly panel discussion, "ThoughtCrime," Kirk was discussing death penalties....

"Death penalties should be public, should be quick, it should be televised. I think at a certain age, its an initiation...What age should you start to see public executions?" Kirk asked.

Kirk, along with his co-hosts Jack Posobiec, Tyler Bowyer and Blake Neff, continued to discuss at what age should children watch the public executions, with one co-host pointing out as young as 12 years old.

"I think maybe age 12, sixth grade or so when you are old enough... " Neff said.

While Bowyer pointed out that it should be at an age when someone "can embrace the meaning" of the execution.

*****

Why is Hegseth doing this? There might be some truth to this:

Hegseth wants to livestream a public execution for the same reason ISIS livestreamed/posted their public executions: to radicalize & recruit the same demographic of downwardly-mobile, low IQ, credulous 17-27 year old males that ISIS snuff films attracted.

— Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) October 9, 2026

But I think it's more about cruelty, and about creating compelling television in a Fox News way. (Hegseth is the purest product of Fox News in a Fox-saturated administration.)

I also think we're seeing the right's usual craving for an easy, lazy fix. In the Rolling Stone story about Trump, a source says, of Trump's proposed release of execution videos, “The [former] president believes this would help put the fear of God into violent criminals.” Kirk and his posse agreed:

... Kirk asked whether crime would go up or down if children were to watch public executions, "Here's a question for anyone that might be not persuaded. Would crime go up or down?"

Bowyer said, "It would go way down," with Kirk then asking, "So why is this even a question?"

Republicans believe that their own cruelty is virtuous, and that most problems can be easily solved with the swift applcation of that cruelty. That's why they liked torture in the George W. Bush years. That's why they like ICE brutality and Stephen Miller's deliberately cruel concentration camps. That's why they thought Alligator Alcatraz was an awesome idea.

I think Republicans -- in the reddest states and also in the Trump administration in its waning days -- will execute more prisoners publicly after this execution. I don't think even widespread condemnation from liberals and centrists will stop grandstanding Republicans. And as a country, we might just get used to it.