Trump Wants to Execute My Friend
The aspiring dictator wants to intimidate us. We can’t let him.
IT’S NOT EVERY DAY THE PRESIDENTIAL nominee of a major political party fantasizes out loud about putting your friend in the way of harm and violent death. Yet that’s just what Donald Trump did to Liz Cheney yesterday: “Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK?” he said. “And let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face.”
In the context of criticizing Cheney as a warmonger, the recipient of five draft deferments who called America’s war dead “suckers” and “losers” was implying that she was a coward who would be unwilling to face the danger into which she sent others. Cheney is among the bravest people I know, but it’s important to note that Trump wasn’t just musing on her character. He didn’t phrase his thought as a hypothetical—I wonder how she’d feel if—but as an imperative: “Let’s put her.”
This is an ominous sign of an aspiring dictator who has abandoned any remaining notion of responsibility or respect for our democratic norms. Threats against fellow Americans—especially those who have taken courageous stands for truth and constitutional values—represent not only a moral failing but also a dangerous indicator of the direction we’re heading. This is personal for me, not just as a former colleague of Liz Cheney, but as someone who has also faced similar intimidation simply for doing my duty to the American people.
Liz is more than a political figure. She’s a mother, a daughter, a wife, and a friend. Like all of us, she wants to live in a country where her children are safe and where people respect differences of opinion. She deserves to do her work and live her life without fearing for her safety or that of her family. But Trump, standing against American history, sees no difference between disagreement and treason. This is a classic sign of autocratic rule, where leaders wield threats and intimidation against their opponents to quash dissent.
Democracies are delicate. They need nurturing, respect, and accountability. When leaders act with unchecked aggression and a disregard for lawful norms, history shows us that democracies do not just erode slowly—they collapse. From Rome to Weimar Germany, and many others since, democratic societies have crumbled when leaders no longer respect the people they serve. Our country is showing the early warning signs that we, too, may be at risk if we continue down this path.
Autocrats thrive by dividing people, ruling through fear, and eroding the institutions that ensure stability and prosperity. And make no mistake, economies fail under autocratic rule. They become isolated, lacking the confidence of the international community, and eventually, as resources dwindle and leadership becomes consumed with clinging to power, the people suffer. Those in power often gain fabulous wealth, but the people are almost always worse off.
If Trump’s rhetoric becomes the norm—if violence, threats, and intimidation replace dialogue and cooperation—then the future we’re looking at is one that should deeply concern every American, regardless of party. We will find ourselves in a country we no longer recognize, one where citizens are not equal under the law, and where the voices of the people are silenced or scared into submission.
Trump hasn’t killed anyone. He didn’t say he wanted to kill Cheney. But he has encouraged violence before. He has admired dictators for their brutality and aggression against defenseless, often innocent people. He incited an insurrection against the government that took the lives of multiple people. And he has predicated his whole campaign on revenge and retribution against those who oppose him—which, in his mind, is anyone who doesn’t actively support him.
We must reject Trump’s vision for America. For those who think that warnings about the fraying of democracy are hyperbolic or that it “could never happen here,” remember that every country that lost its democracy once thought the same thing.
Adam Kinzinger represented Illinois as a Republican in the House of Representatives between 2011 and 2023. He is a lieutenant colonel in the Illinois Air National Guard and author of a Substack newsletter.
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