Trump criticism of Liz Cheney as 'radical war hawk' framed as call for violence by 'irresponsible' media

Liberal media outlets have been accused of taking former President Trump out of context to claim he was calling for violence against former House Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., when he was actually mocking her as someone who pushes for war from the comforts of Washington, D.C. 

Drudge Report’s frontpage headline on Friday morning declared in red font with all caps, "TRUMP CALLS FOR CHENEY’S EXECUTION," and linked to a social media post from far-left commentator Aaron Rupar that showed a partial clip from the former president’s Glendale, Arizona event on Thursday. 

"I don’t blame him for sticking with his daughter, but his daughter is a very dumb individual. Very dumb, she’s a radical war hawk. Let's put her with a rifle standing there with 9 barrels shooting at her, OK? Let's see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face," Trump is heard saying in the clip that set the tone for MSNBC and CNN’s Friday morning programming. 

But many felt it was purposely cut off before Trump’s anti-war message and Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway quickly responded to Rupar’s clip. 

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"Wow, I’m so shocked that propagandist Rupar cut it off before this line: ‘They're all war hawks when they're sitting in Washington in a nice building saying ‘Oh gee, let's send 10,000 troops into the mouths of the enemies.' She always wanted to go to war with people,’" Hemingway wrote. 

Indeed, Trump’s comments following the brief clip shared by Rupar was cut off before the former president finished his thought. 

"She’s a radical war hawk. Let's put her with a rifle standing there with 9 barrels shooting at her, OK? Let's see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face. 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 into the mouths of the enemies,’ but she’s a stupid person and I used to have meetings with a lot of people and she always wanted to go to war with people," Trump said. 

Rupar is a widely followed, frequent poster on X, and is also a rabid supporter of Democrats.

"FOX & Friends" co-host Brian Kilmeade called it "totally irresponsible" to suggest that Trump was calling for Cheney’s execution. Kilmeade said he saw the full clip and didn’t feel the comments were even particularly newsworthy, as it was simply Trump suggesting he’s against sending Americans to war. 

"Little did I know this was going to be abused like that," Kilmeade said. 

The "irresponsible" framing used by Drudge was echoed by other liberal outlets, as both MSNBC and CNN followed the script.

CNN’s website featured a front-page headline, "Trump rages that ‘war hawk’ Liz Cheney should be fired upon." CNN's Jim Acosta sparred with a Republican guest on Friday morning about the clip, saying it was beyond the pale for Trump to call for Cheney to be effectively fired upon.

Politico White House bureau chief Jonathan Lemire, who is also an MSNBC host, accused Trump of using "violent war imagery" to criticize Cheney. 

"Dangerous rhetoric there," Lemire said on MSNBC Friday morning after airing a partial clip of the soundbite. 

CNN's Kasie Hunt said Trump was going after Cheney with "violent rhetoric" and "some of his darkest language yet." 

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"Four days out from Election Day and former President Trump is escalating his violent rhetoric, suggesting one of his most prominent critics, the former congresswoman Liz Cheney, should be fired upon," Hunt told CNN viewers. 

"Of course, violent language, it’s not new for Trump," Hunt added. "This stark imagery represents an escalation at a tense moment when the country is on edge." 

Later Friday morning, CNN’s on-screen chyron stated: "Trump escalates violent rhetoric with new attack on Liz Cheney" and Acosta also cut off the clip where Rupar did. 

The New York Times featured a story headlined, "Trum attacks Liz Cheney using violent war imagery" and the Washington Post went with "Trump suggests ‘war hawk’ Liz Cheney should have guns ‘trained on her face.’" 

Reuters wrote that "Trump suggested Liz Cheney should face firing squad for her foreign policy stance."

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro also posted footage of Trump’s comments and wrote, "It is simply a lie to claim that Trump was calling for Cheney's assassination here. A lie."

Cheney herself responded to Rupar’s clip, writing "this is how dictators 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," Cheney added. 

Fox News contributor Johnny Joey Jones fired back at Cheney, "As one of the marines sent to fight your daddy’s bulls--t war I just need you to know active duty and veterans say this about you and those like you all the time. We are petty, vindictive, cruel or unstable. We’re amputated, mangled, stressed and fed up." 

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Hemingway also responded to Cheney. 

"Not that any of us are surprised about how much you will lie, but he was saying you are willing to send young men and women off to war from the safety of the DC suburbs," Hemingway wrote. 

Joe Walsh, a former GOP congressman who is a fierce Trump opponent, acknowledged the framing was misleading. 

"Trump did NOT call for Liz Cheney to be executed. This is what’s so wrong with our politics today," Walsh wrote. 

"This short clip is so deceptive. Trump is NOT calling for Liz Cheney to be executed in front of a firing line. He’s not. Listen to the entirety of what he said. In Trump’s typically stupid, ugly fashion, he’s trying to make a point about Cheney’s stance on war," Walsh added. "But Aaron (who I like & respect), by posting ONLY this 11 second clip, makes it look like he’s calling for her to be executed. He’s not."

The Trump campaign said it was clear what was actually being explained during the Arizona rally. 

"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," Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. 

"These are willful lies from the hack media, the Kamala Harris campaign, and the queen of forever wars, Liz Cheney herself. President Trump was quite obviously depicting her as deployed to a war zone, just as she’s done to countless American men and women she sent off to die while she rested her feet on her desk in Washington, D.C. He even described her as being armed with her own rifle, which is how you know the ‘firing squad’ descriptions are abject fabrications and just liberal rage porn," Trump 2024 senior advisor Tim Murtaugh told Fox News Digital.

Cheney, the former vice chair of the House select committee on Jan. 6, lost re-election to a Trump-backed Republican primary challenger in the 2022 election. She has been an outspoken critic of the former president and has campaigned for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.