Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, has attacked Liz Cheney, claiming that the former legislator, who has endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris in the campaign for the White House, should face combat with guns focused on her for her policy positions.
Donald Trump claims Liz Cheney would not be such a ‘war hawk’ if guns were aimed at her, sparking a retort from an ex-Republican legislator.
“She’s a radical war hawk,” Trump said on Thursday at a campaign event with ex-Fox News television host Tucker Carlson in Glendale, Arizona, also calling Cheney “a deranged person” and “a very dumb individual”.
“Let’s put her with a 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 to her face,” he added, noting that she and her father, former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney, refused to back his third presidential run.
Trump has repeatedly promised to investigate or prosecute his political rivals, including Cheney, as well as election workers, journalists and left-wing Americans, among others. The former president has also said the military could be used against what he calls “radical left lunatics” if there is unrest on Election Day.
In response, Cheney on Friday called Trump a “vindictive, cruel” dictator.
“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,” Cheney responded in a post on X on Friday, adding “#Womenwillnotbesilenced.”
Cheney, one of the most prominent Republicans to oppose Trump, has endorsed Harris in the November 5 election, claiming she crossed party lines to put the country first and labeling Trump a “danger”.
Cheney, once one of the party’s top leaders in the US House of Representatives, lost her seat after supporting Trump’s second impeachment for his role in his supporters’ assault of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and then leading the inquiry into the incident.
In recent weeks, Cheney has campaigned alongside Harris, particularly in Michigan, a critical battleground state with sizable Arab and Muslim populations that the Democrats are attempting to win over.
Democrats have long chastised her father for his pivotal role in advocating for and carrying out the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 on false grounds. Cheney has embraced her father’s neoconservative legacy throughout her career, raising worries about whether Cheney’s endorsement will help Harris earn votes in the razor-thin contest or harm her chances.
“When you have surrogates like Liz Cheney campaigning across the state of Michigan, talking about how even Dick Cheney – the war criminal – is supporting Vice President Harris, is that supposed to be a welcoming message to this community?” On Thursday, Abdullah Hammoud, the mayor of Dearborn, the Detroit suburb with the highest Muslim population per capita in the US, spoke with Al Jazeera.
