Media scrutinized for bizarre claim that Trump threatened Cheney with firing squad

CV NEWS FEED // A chorus of observers on Friday called out corporate media sources for attempting to present Republican nominee Donald Trump’s criticism of former Rep. Liz Cheney’s, R-WY, interventionist foreign policy stance as a threat of violence.

“She’s a radical war hawk,” Trump said of Cheney Thursday night during an Arizona event with anti-interventionist political commentator Tucker Carlson.

Trump proceeded to make the point that if Cheney were to serve in a combat role herself, she might not be as eager to send American troops to battle.

“Let’s put her with a rifle, standing there with nine-barrels shooting at her,” Trump said:

Okay, let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.

… 

You know, they’re all war hawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building, saying, “Oh gee, well, let’s send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy.”

Following Trump’s critical remarks, a battery of corporate media outlets published stories suggesting the former president had threatened violence against the ex-congresswoman. 

CNN published a piece with the headline “Trump says ‘war hawk’ Liz Cheney should be fired upon in escalation of violent rhetoric against his opponents.”

The piece states “Trump’s suggestion that Cheney should face gunfire represents an escalation of the violent language he has used to target his political foes.”

A Washington Post story bears the headline “Trump embraces violent rhetoric, suggests Liz Cheney should have guns ‘trained on her face.’”

The piece’s subheading adds, “The GOP nominee often describes graphic and gruesome scenes of crimes and violence, real and imagined.”

Similarly, Axios published an article claiming that Trump suggested Cheney “should have guns ‘trained on her face.’”  

“It’s the latest example of Trump’s increasingly violent rhetoric against his political enemies as the 2024 campaign winds down,” Axios added.

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On Friday, left-leaning journalist Glenn Greenwald published a series of X posts scrutinizing the media’s coverage of the Republican’s words.

“For [those] who claim to believe Trump called for Liz Cheney’s execution — rather than saying she, like many in DC, cheers wars because she never fights them — I have one question,” Greenwald wrote Friday afternoon. “Why did he begin by saying: Give Liz a rifle? Is it common to supply weapons to those you’re about to execute? Seems counter-productive to the plan.”

“Trump is saying what every liberal pundit and DNC operative I know was saying for 15 years — from 2001 until 2016 — about the Cheneys, neocons, and warmongering,” Greenwald pointed out in a subsequent post. “But now that liberals are aligned with those people, they claim it’s a threat of execution to say it.”

In a similar vein, Army veteran Sam Rogers wrote, “Democrats spent 25 years saying that Dick Cheney’s kids should have to go fight in a war and all it took was Donald Trump agreeing with them to change their minds.”

Popular X account Libs of TikTok posted: “Trump did not call for [Cheney] to be kiIIed. The media know this and are purposely misleading their readers and leaving out the context.”

Conservative political commentator Greg Price told his X followers on Friday morning to “Watch the full clip of President Trump saying Liz Cheney wants to send people to die in wars that she will never experience herself. Then look at the headlines the media is writing about it.”

“Gee, I wonder why trust in media is at an all time low,” he added, likely referring to the results of a viral recently released Gallup poll.

In the middle of the night on Friday morning, podcaster Clint Russell appeared to predict the angle the mainstream media would take regarding Trump’s comments.

“Wanna learn how a hit piece works?” he wrote on X. “Trump is clearly saying that Liz Cheney is a chicken hawk and she would quickly change her warmongering tune if placed in the line of fire.”

“Tomorrow’s headline: ‘Trump demands firing squads for his political opponents,’” Russell added, referring to later on Friday morning.

On Friday, Trump reiterated his critique of Cheney while speaking to reporters.

Cheney is “a war hawk,” he told them. “She kills people.”

“Even in my administration she was pushing that we go to war with everybody,” the former president added. “And I said if you ever gave her a rifle and let her do the fighting … she wouldn’t be doing too well.”

“She’s a war hawk,” Trump repeated. “She wants to go kill people unnecessarily. And if she had to do it herself and she had to face the consequences of battle, she wouldn’t be doing it. So, it’s easy for her to talk.”

Cheney served in Congress from 2017 to 2023. Her electoral career ended when she lost re-election in the Republican primary by a landslide 37-point margin. 

In January 2021, she was one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump for a second time. In September, she endorsed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

Cheney’s father, controversial former Vice President Dick Cheney, has also endorsed Harris for the presidency. 

During his tenure in office, the elder Cheney was repeatedly accused of being a “war criminal” by many mainstream left-wing American commentators and is widely regarded to be one of the primary architects of the deeply unpopular Iraq War. He left office in 2009 with an abysmal 13% approval rating.

Both Cheneys are widely known for their consistent support of American involvement in foreign wars, particularly in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. 

While many members of the Republican Party used to share this stance, the party as a whole has become considerably more non-interventionist since Trump became its standard-bearer during his successful 2016 campaign.

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