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Livestreaming an execution: cruelty or an added deterrent?
The Defense Department wants to make a public example of a soldier-turned-terrorist
Nearly a century after holding its last public execution, the United States government this month announced plans to broadcast the December execution of Nidal Hasan, a former army officer convicted for the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood. Not only will Hasan be killed by firing squad, said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, but the government intends to “make sure people are able to watch it, that it’s public.” Unsurprisingly, the plans to federally livestream a shooting death have prompted both massive condemnation and pockets of support from many in President Donald Trump’s MAGA coalition
‘Public and brutal, not private and medicalized’
Livestreaming Hasan’s death is “excellent,” said Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) on X. A public execution is “what this terrorist deserves.” Critics simply don’t have to watch the killing “if they don’t choose to,” said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on CBS News’ “Face The Nation with Margaret Brennan” this weekend. Executions should be “public and brutal, not private and medicalized,” said defense tech executive and newly named Pentagon consultant Palmer Luckey on X.
“You live by the sword, you die by the sword,” said retired Staff Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford, who survived Hasan’s attack, to NBC News. “He needs to go out by firing squad.” But while Lunsford “endorses livestreaming the event,” said the outlet, he also expressed concern over children seeing Hasan’s death.
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The broad American public is “overwhelmingly against the Pentagon’s decision,” said Fox News. Those who spoke with the network “blasted the broadcast as ‘a shame’ and ‘just weird.’” Although Hasan “should face the death penalty,” livestreaming his killing is “beyond disgusting,” said retiring North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis on X. Any Catholic service members detailed to Hasan’s firing squad should “request to be excused from this action contrary to the teaching of the Church,” said Archbishop for the Military Services Timothy P. Broglio in a statement.
Notably, Trump himself has “privately shared misgivings” about livestreaming the execution, said Axios. He “didn’t sound particularly enthusiastic” about the broadcast, said one confidante to the outlet. “That’s why he’s calling around, doing the Trump thing, asking people what they think.”
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Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.
