President Trump shelved plans to livestream the firing-squad execution of Fort Hood mass murderer Nidal Hasan after international and domestic pressure — letting outside voices dictate how America administers justice to a man who slaughtered 13 of its soldiers.
Hasan killed 13 unarmed U.S. troops and wounded 32 more at the Texas military base in 2009. His December 3 execution by firing squad will be the first military execution in over 60 years, the BBC reported. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced last week the death would be streamed so "people need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things." The backlash was swift — and the president buckled.
Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social: "I think streaming the execution for all to see might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan but, many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device."
"He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed," he added.
Victim families will still be permitted to watch in person. "They deserve to witness JUSTICE!" Trump wrote.
The Guardian framed the reversal as a product of "sweeping criticism" and highlighted comparisons to "dictatorships in Iran and Afghanistan" — putting the public execution of a man who massacred American troops on the same moral plane as regimes that murder political dissidents. The BBC emphasized that "criticism over the public display mounted." The New York Post noted the plan drew "bipartisan outrage" and that America hasn't held a public execution since the 1930s.
What none of the outlets ask: why should any foreign government or international body have a say in how the United States punishes a terrorist who gunned down its soldiers on its own soil? Hasan sat on death row for over 15 years while the process crawled. Now the administration finally acts — and global opinion becomes the deciding factor in the terms of that justice.
Trump himself seemed uncertain from the start. He said last Friday he "absolutely" approved the livestream but conceded the Pentagon was still "making a determination," according to the BBC. Vice President JD Vance had already distanced himself, saying he would not watch.
Hasan will face the firing squad on December 3 regardless. Thirteen Americans are still dead. The open question is why it took a global permission slip for American justice to proceed — and what that precedent means the next time the world objects to how this country handles its own.
