Latest / Kvetch & Release / Trump’s Livestream Execution is Macabre Clickbait, Not Deterrence

Transcript

Trump’s Livestream Execution is Macabre Clickbait, Not Deterrence · Kvetch & Release

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And it's time for Litke's Got a Take with John Litke.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Good morning, John.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Gene.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Hey, we're talking about the Fort Hood shooter. And for
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: people who don't know, back in 2023, this soldier, who
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: was also a psychiatrist, was radicalized. And he was at
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Fort Hood in the United States, mass murder, killed 13,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: wounded 32 people. So now the Secretary of Defense, or
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: what they're calling it now in the States, the Secretary
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: of War, Pete Hegseth, And the Pentagon are framing this
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: live stream as the ultimate act of deterrence, showing terrorists
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: that if you attack Americans, you'll end up being executed
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: by a firing squad. Now, they're going to live stream this.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Only two other countries live stream executions, Iran and Afghanistan. Now,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: George Washington advocated for public executions. Now, is broadcasting an
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: execution an effective deterrent? Or is it just a really
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: cheap internet show of entertainment?
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Let's be real about this. Pete Hegseth is not George Washington.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: George Washington crossed the Delaware. Pete Hegseth wants to get
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: to the top of the leader rankings on Xbox. The
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Pentagon argues the public needs to see the serious consequences
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: of terrorism. But you know what this actually becomes in 2026?
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: I'd say just like macabre clickbait. It's not going to
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: be a solemn historical lesson in civic justice. This is
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: going to be sandwiched on your social media timelines between
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: unboxing videos and people ranking fast food. Like you put
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: up with the Kraft Dinner pop that you have. I
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: oppose the death penalty categorically. I mean, I think it's
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: morally gross and it's a fiscal black hole. I mean,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: we figured this out decades ago in Canada. Broadcasting state-sanctioned death, though,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: I mean, that doesn't deter terrorism. I mean, and I
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: don't think it actually enables terrorism either. I just think
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: it degrades everyone watching.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Well, the speaker in the U.S., Johnson, and some U.S.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: senators are warning this could be like a massive recruitment
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: video for extremists. Now, do you buy the argument that
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: a Pentagon livestream creates an elevated national security risk, or
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: is Washington overthinking this?
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: I'll give you a one-word answer. Meh. Washington's pearl clutching,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: and they're really good at that. I mean, do we
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: honestly believe extremist networks are sitting around empty-handed just waiting
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: for a Pentagon livestream to drop so they can finally
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: begin the radicalization process? I mean, come on. They're doing
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: it great right now. They don't need Pete Hegseth acting
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: as executive producer. I think that this is just classic
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: overblown Washington talking points from politicians who fundamentally don't even
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: understand how the Internet actually operates. You don't need external
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: actors to radicalize people. It's happening right now, and it's
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: happening organically as well, as well as astroturfed. But extremists
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: are going to spin anything into absolute propaganda. So the
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: stream itself isn't the magic bullet.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: You know, I like the Australian prime minister. I was
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: reading some stuff about him and this execution. He calls
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: it abhorrent, and I agree with him. They promise to
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: block it down under. Canadian experts are warning parents that
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: graphic clips will inevitably hit places like TikTok. So Ottawa
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: talks a big game about protecting youth from online harm.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: So should the Canadian government step up and block this feed,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: or are they chicken of what Trump will do in retaliation?
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: I think that this is actually peak Ottawa hypocrisy at
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: its finest. We have a federal government here in Canada
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: that will exhaustively attempt repeatedly to regulate streaming platforms to
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: ensure that we're all fed up enough with CanCon at
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: this point, because I think most people just want to
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: be able to log on to Netflix without seeing their
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: bills continually rise and hearing it's because the government is
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: trying to force things onto companies, which will then pass
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: the costs onto us. But, I mean, when an actual
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: live military firing squad is set to hit our social
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: media feeds on December the 3rd, Right now, Ottawa has
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: suddenly developed, it seems like, laryngitis. Where are they? They're
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: not talking.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: And why?
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: It seems like they're terrified of poking the bear. That
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: is Donald Trump. They don't want to risk higher tariffs
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: or a border spat with Trump evolving. So they check
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: their so-called progressive morals right at the ambassador or the
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: Gordie Howe Bridge. I mean, this is rhetorical cowardice, Gene.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Come on, block the feed, grow a spine and a backbone.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: We don't need to be enabling this in our country.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: You know, the visual of this, because the gunman was
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: paralyzed when they took him down, I mean, he's going
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: to be in a wheelchair with a heart target on
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: his chest. I mean, there's no way in the world
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: I could watch this. And you know what? If people
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: want to see graphic content like that on the Internet,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: they're going to find it anyway. So does government intervention
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: from Ottawa even work? Or are they kind of trying
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: to broadcast, censor a broadcast that people will find on
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: the Internet anyway?
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: People are going to find it. I mean, the Internet
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: always wins. We know that. But that doesn't mean that
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: we need to make it easy. If someone wants to
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: genuinely seek out dark, twisted garbage online, that's their prerogative.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: But I don't think that the state needs to roll
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: out the red carpet, set up ring lights, and serve
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: it up on a digital buffet. So government intervention here
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: isn't about successfully scrubbing the entire Internet clean, which is,
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: of course, impossible. It's about ensuring that the firing squad
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: doesn't autoplay when a 14 year old is scrolling for
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: hockey highlights on TikTok. If you want to have people
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: watch this, I mean, let them figure it out on
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: their own. Make the sickos work to find it out
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: on their own. But we can shut it down on
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: our main feeds, and that's easy enough. I mean, they
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: can call up the social media companies. They can tweak
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: some regulations. Heck, they could push emergency legislation if they
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: wanted to. They've got the majority government right now. So
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: we've just got to sit and wait and see as
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: the clock ticks down closer and closer to December 3rd.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, Trump loves the big spectacle, as we know.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: You know, his parade, that arc that he wants to build,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: his ballroom, and all the rest of it. But if
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: the White House does pull the plug on this— Is
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: that a sign of diplomatic pressure actually working or just
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Trump backing off a bad, bad, politically motivated loser?
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: I think it would prove the whole operation to be
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: a clown show. What we've seen is Pete Hegstaff. Secretary
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: of War or Defense, shot from the hip and blindsided everyone.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: No one expected it. There's now reports out that Trump
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: is actually sweating about this because apparently nobody briefed him
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: that Nidal Hassan is actually paralyzed, as you mentioned, from
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: the waist down and uses a wheelchair. And he's now
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: apparently thinking about the optics of it and how the
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: firing squad gunning down a paralyzed man in a wheelchair
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: on global television or on the Internet might not be
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: the best thing to be representing the United States of America.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: Even Trump can understand that that's a monumental PR disaster.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: So now they're floating the idea of potentially cutting the
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: feed before shots are fired. I mean, give me a break.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: They're trying to turn military justice into cheap reality TV
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: cliffhangers because they finally looked down the barrel of domestic
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: polling and saw that it was bleak.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, you know, the bar is really low on this.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: I was talking to the Reverend Michael Korn about this
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: this morning briefly, you know, and I was saying, you know, jokingly,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: if you can make a joke of this. You know,
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: I'm surprised they don't have it as the Super Bowl
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: halftime show. But, you know, when you really look at
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: it from like 80,000 feet, what does the fact that
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: we're even having a serious debate about broadcasting a firing
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: squad on the open Internet say about where political discourse
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: is at in 2026?
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: You're surprised that the execution by firing squad isn't happening
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: at the Super Bowl. I'm genuinely surprised they're not selling
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: VIP lanyards and setting up the firing squad on the
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: White House lawn.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Oh, yikes.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: I mean, it says, though, quite frankly about all of
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: this in political discourse right now is that Trump and
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: his administration are really great at holding a laser pointer.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: and shining it around, and the global media seems to
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: be a cat aggressively chasing a red dot across the floor.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: I mean, Trump doesn't care about the outcome of this broadcast.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: If it happens for him, great. If it pulls the plug,
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: he'll just pivot and blame some woke general or foreign
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: government for ruining his ratings. This is 100% pure political
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: circus designed to distract us from actual governance failures, from
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: inflation not going down, from gas prices continuing to raise,
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: from the war in the Middle East continuing to ravage on.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: So we all will sit back, and like I think
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: I've said to you many times before, quite frankly, we're
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: all living in Donald Trump's movie, and we're just the
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: background actors.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Hey, on a completely different topic... I'm working on the
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: show yesterday afternoon, which I do every single day, and
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: I took some gravel, and I had the CBC on,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: and Pierre Paglia was down in Windsor, Detroit, and I
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: hear this guy asking him a question, and I'm going,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: that's John Litke. So you made it to the CBC yesterday.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: Good going.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: Oh, well, thank you so much. Yeah, that was a
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: lot of fun. I rushed down there for his presser
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: at the riverfront, and then I made sure that I
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: was back sitting waiting for the phone to ring for
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: your segment.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: All right, my friend. Great take today. We'll talk to
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: you tomorrow and Friday.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Gene.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: There he goes, Sean Litke. Litke's got a take. It's
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: CKTV News.