Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Thursday directed violent rhetoric at former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, criticizing her past support for military action and saying she should face “nine barrels shooting at her” as a result, his latest advocacy of violence against his rivals.
“She’s a radical war hawk — let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK? And let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face,” the former president and convicted felon said during an event in Glendale, Ariz., that was moderated by commentator Tucker Carlson.
Cheney, a former member from Wyoming and one-time chair of the House GOP Conference, was vice chair of the special House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. More recently, Cheney has endorsed and campaigned with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.
One of the few congressional Republicans to ever criticize Trump, Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, did not hold back in her response, posted on X, formerly known at Twitter.
“This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death,” Cheney wrote. “We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.”
Trump, whom a New York civil jury found liable of sexual abuse last year, and his surrogates have criticized Democrats over such descriptions of him, blaming them for two failed assassination attempts and an escalation of violent rhetoric.
But Trump has suggested and outright called for violence on his political foes multiple times, including encouraging supporters at rallies to “knock the crap” out of protestors.
In recent weeks, he has floated the notion that, if elected again, he would send federal law enforcement and active-duty U.S. military troops to round up some of his political and legal foes, including California Democratic Rep. Adam B. Schiff, a former Trump impeachment manager who is on track to easily win a Senate seat.
The former president has also attacked former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, his top uniformed military adviser, saying he should face treason charges and execution.
In a September 2023 social media post, Trump took umbrage with a phone call Milley had with senior Chinese officials after the Jan. 6 insurrection to assure them that the U.S. was stable. “This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!” Trump wrote in September 2023 of Milley.
Milley, still Joint Chiefs chair, at the time told CBS News in response to Trump’s call for his execution that “I’m a soldier,” adding: “I’ve been faithful and loyal to the Constitution United States 44-and-a-half years, and my family and I have sacrificed greatly for this country, my mother and father before them.
“And you know, as much as these comments are directed at me, it’s also directed at the institution of the military, and there’s 2.1 million of us in uniform and the American people can take it to the bank that all of us, every single one of us, from private to general, were loyal to that Constitution,” Milley said.
Milley also contended there were “zero” inappropriate or treasonous things said during that January 2021 call with the Chinese officials.
But in a sobering revelation, the country’s then-top military official said he was forced to bolster his security.
“I’ve got adequate safety precautions,” he told CBS. “I wish those comments had not been made. But they were. And will take appropriate measures to ensure my safety and the safety of my family.”
Harris was on the campaign trail Thursday repeating her warnings that another Trump term would erode the country’s democratic principles and institutions. Her campaign did not mince words in response to his calling for Cheney’s execution.
“Donald Trump is so all-consumed by his grievances, the people who he disagrees with and who he sees as opposing him politically, he treats as enemies. He’s spent the last month talking about the ‘enemy from within’ the United States,” said Ian Sams, a campaign senior adviser and spokesman.
“And now, he’s going after Liz Cheney with this dangerous, violent rhetoric. I mean, think about the contrast between these two candidates,” Sams added. “You have Donald Trump who is talking about sending a prominent Republican to the firing squad, and you have Vice President Harris talking about sending one to her Cabinet. This is the difference in this race.”
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