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Don’t Watch Hegseth’s Stunt · Commentary - TJ Meadows

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Secretary of War Pete Hegseth wants to make sure Americans
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  Speaker 1: can watch the execution of the convicted Fort Hood mass murderer.
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  Speaker 1: That doesn't mean we should. Hegseth's plan looks more like
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  Speaker 1: political theater than an exercise in justice, an attempt to
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  Speaker 1: to gain notoriety and strengthen his standing with President Trump's
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: political base. Hegseth says, But Americans already understand that murder
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  Speaker 1: carries serious consequences. and evil people determined to commit atrocities
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  Speaker 1: are unlikely to be deterred by an execution streamed over
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  Speaker 1: the internet. Hegseth might benefit from revisiting the teachings of
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: the French Enlightenment philosopher Montesquieu. He warned that severe punishments
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  Speaker 1: are better suited to despotic governments, which rely on terror,
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  Speaker 1: than republics, which depend on honor and virtue. Montesquieu wasn't
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  Speaker 1: categorically opposed to to capital punishment. His point was that
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  Speaker 1: the more government relies on fear to secure obedience, the
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  Speaker 1: more it resembles a despotism rather than a free republic.
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  Speaker 1: And that distinction matters. Does the Fort Hood murderer deserve execution?
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps he does. But whether his death should become a
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  Speaker 1: public spectacle is an entirely different question. The Trump administration
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  Speaker 1: apparently believes broadcasting and execution will demonstrate the strength of
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  Speaker 1: American justice. I believe it risks demonstrating precisely that. the opposite.
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  Speaker 1: Government should aspire to reflect the best of our humanity,
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  Speaker 1: not indulge our worst instincts. Justice need not become entertainment.
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  Speaker 1: Punishment need not become spectacle. And government's authority to take
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  Speaker 1: a life does not create an obligation to invite Americans
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  Speaker 1: to watch. If Hegseth proceeds with a publicly streamed execution
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  Speaker 1: of Congress should intervene to prohibit it. Vice President J.D.
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  Speaker 1: Vance says he doesn't intend to watch. Good for him.
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  Speaker 1: Neither should the rest of us. Perhaps if Americans refuse
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  Speaker 1: to participate, Hegseth will discover there's little political reward in
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  Speaker 1: turning death into a public performance. A free society should
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  Speaker 1: demand honorable, virtuous justice from its government, not a show.