In Context: What Trump said about Cheney facing a firing squad

EXPLAINER

With widespread interpretations of Trump’s remarks, we review his comments in their original context. So what did he say — and what did he likely mean?

Former US President Donald Trump called former US Republican lawmaker Liz Cheney a “radical war hawk” and said she should see how it feels to face guns “trained on her face”.

Trump made the comments to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson at an October 31 campaign event in Glendale, Arizona. Carlson asked Trump whether it was “weird” for him to see Cheney, the daughter of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney, campaigning against him. Liz Cheney has vocally supported Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, and her father also said he would vote for Harris.

With widespread interpretations of Trump’s remarks, we review his comments in their original context. So what did he say – and what did he likely mean?

Trump’s answer to Carlson’s question lasted several minutes and covered his feelings about former President George W. Bush and Dick Cheney; the pardon of Lewis “Scooter” Libby, who was a former Dick Cheney aide; and the US House Select Committee that investigated the January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol.

Trump’s comments about Liz Cheney and a firing squad drew the most public attention.

When asked about Liz Cheney campaigning for Harris, Trump said, “Well, I think it hurts Kamala a lot. Actually. Look, [Cheney is] a deranged person. The reason she doesn’t like me is that she wanted to stay in Iraq.”

Trump covered many other topics, then said, “I don’t want to go to war. [Liz Cheney] wanted to go, she wanted to stay in Syria. I took [troops] out. She wanted to stay in Iraq. I took them out. I mean, if it were up to her, we’d be in 50 different countries. And you know, number one, it’s very dangerous. Number two, a lot of people get killed. And number three, I mean, it’s very, very expensive.”

Later, Trump added, “I don’t blame [Dick Cheney] for sticking with his daughter, but his daughter is a very dumb individual, very dumb. She is a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK? Let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.”

Liz Cheney replied on November 1 on X: “This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.” Her post included the hashtags #Womenwillnotbesilenced and #VoteKamala.

Some people, including former Republican presidential candidate and Illinois representative Joe Walsh, a Trump critic, said Trump’s main point was about Liz Cheney’s stance on war.

Trump’s campaign defended his remarks, publishing multiple statements:

• Campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt wrote on November 1 on X: “To every FAKE NEWS reporter taking President Trump’s words out of context: President Trump was CLEARLY explaining that warmongers like Liz Cheney are very quick to start wars and send other Americans to fight them, rather than go into combat themselves.
• In a November 1 statement to the press, the Trump campaign wrote, “The press has been disgracefully covering these remarks by saying that President Trump suggested that Liz Cheney should be put in front of a ‘firing squad’. Are these reporters malicious or dumb? President Trump was clearly describing a combat zone.”
• In another November 1 statement to the press, the campaign wrote, “Nowhere did President Trump suggest War Hawk Liz Cheney be put in front of a ‘firing squad’, be ‘executed’, or be ‘shot’ — he was making the point that War Hawks are quick to start endless foreign wars and send other Americans to fight, with zero regard for the human cost.”

In 2002, Dick Cheney made the George W. Bush administration’s case for preemptive military action against Iraq based on allegations about weapons of mass destruction. In 2007, the Institute for Defense Analyses, a nonprofit research branch of the Pentagon’s Joint Forces Command, completed an assessment of the Bush administration’s rationale, basing its conclusions on more than half a million captured Iraqi documents. That study “found no ‘smoking gun’ (i.e., direct connection) between Saddam’s Iraq and al-Qaida”.

When Liz Cheney represented Wyoming as a Republican in Congress, she supported Trump’s legislative agenda while he was president but broke with him after the January 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol. She dismissed Trump’s false claims of a fraudulent 2020 election and has blamed him for inciting the Capitol riot.

Cheney served on the US House January 6 select committee that held public hearings about the riot. She lost her reelection bid in 2022.