In the unlikely event that you missed the news, last week President Trump canceled the planned livestream of the Fort Hood shooter's execution. Previously, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan would be executed by a firing squad, at Fort Hood, broadcast for all the world to see and that "It would be awesome."
As easy as it is to speculate over what testosterone-fed and media-infused nonsense is rolling-around in the Secretary's head; sometimes the president requires further reflection. And a wee bit of polling.
If anyone would have asked me, my response would be to tell Mr. Trump that live streaming the execution by firing squad of a paralyzed, wheelchair-bound murderer would simply grant him his last wish - namely martyrdom. As a consequence, Secretary Hegseth would be handing jihadists across the world a novel recruiting tool on a silver platter.
As per usual nobody called.
We'll never know if the president's main concern was if the Secretary's broadcasting of the execution would have a deterrent effect or make a better tool for attracting apprentice terrorists. Personally, I vote for the latter, not the former.
In case you might be thinking about all of what goes into the procedural details of an execution under the military's Uniform Code of Military Justice - including the rare firing squad - Ward Carroll does a very good job of explaining it. If you can spare less than eight minutes and the bandwidth you can watch it here.
The execution, if it goes through, is scheduled for the same week as the National Christmas Tree Lighting.
Meanwhile, I have a pool going if Pete Hegseth is the first Cabinet Secretary to be fired immediately following the midterm elections.
Felize Navidad!
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