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With only days to go before the election, it’s more important than ever for candidates to project an air of dignity. At least, that’s how candidates whose names aren’t Donald Trump handle things. It’s nearly impossible to teach an old dog a new trick, and the former president is showing just how little he cares about decorum.
While Republicans clutch their pearls over Joe Biden calling their supporters “garbage,” Trump is upping the ante. During a campaign event in Arizona, the former president talked about shooting Liz Cheney in the face, and his outspoken critic has responded by calling it how she sees it.
The feud between Cheney and Trump has been raging since Jan. 6, 2021. Cheney became a vocal critic after the attack on the capitol, and has since aligned herself with Trump’s opponents. While the bitter back and forth has been going for years, it appears the lifelong Republican’s endorsement of Harris in early October has landed her squarely in Trump’s crosshairs.
Chatting with the perpetually confused Tucker Carlson in Glendale, Arizona, one of seven swing states Trump needs to curry favor in to win, the former president ranted about Cheney’s vocal opposition to his campaign. Labeling Cheney a “very dumb individual” to an eruption of laughter, Trump slipped into his beloved tough guy rhetoric.
Calling her a “radical war hawk,” Trump jammed his lift-clad boot right into his mouth with, “Let’s put her with the 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.”
Trump continued his thought saying, “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.”
Trump’s comments immediately drew ire from multiple sides. Cheney’s Republican allies took to X.com to lambast their former fellows, demanding that they acknowledge the “unacceptable, dangerous & shameful” behavior. Harris addressed the rhetoric saying that anyone who spoke that was way “unqualified” to be president.
Cheney took to social media to respond, she posted to x.com “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.”
Trump’s campaign has tried to clarify his comments, claiming the 78-year-old was critiquing Cheney’s war-positive stance. And while there is certainly some merit to the claim within the context of the quote, it’s incredibly unpresidential phrasing. It’s not the sort of thing parents would allow their kid to say about another child, or something that HR would simply let slide in a workplace environment.
Critics of Trump’s presidency and presidential bid have repeatedly pointed to 45’s propensity to use violent language against his detractors, and his team is desperate to make him appear less deranged. But it’s impossible to accept the added context of Trump’s final sentence without also admitting that he has a history of attacking those who disagree with him – and that he has a traceable love of dictators.
Republicans have been trying to pin the rise in vitriol on Democrats since July’s failed assassination attempt, but they don’t seem to realize the call is coming from inside the house, and it’s Daddy Donald on the line.