Donald Trump says Liz Cheney is ‘war hawk’ who should be shot

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Donald Trump has lashed out at Liz Cheney, his prominent Republican critic, for being a “radical war hawk” who should be shot, in comments that will raise new concerns about his plans to seek revenge on his political foes.

The Republican nominee made the comments on Thursday night in Arizona at a campaign event with Tucker Carlson, the firebrand rightwing media host, with just days left before the US election next Tuesday.

“She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK?” Trump said. “Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face.”

Cheney, who is the daughter of former Republican vice-president Dick Cheney, has endorsed Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for president, and campaigned with her in the final weeks of the race for the White House.

Liz Cheney emerged as a key figure in the Republican opposition to Trump after co-chairing a congressional committee tasked with probing the January 6 attacks on the US Capitol.

After losing her seat in the House of Representatives to a pro-Trump rival in her home state of Wyoming, Cheney has continued attacking Trump for being a threat to American democracy, the US Constitution and traditional conservative values.

In response to Trump’s comments in Arizona, she said on X: “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.”

Trump has frequently vowed to seek retribution against the “enemy within” America, stoking fears that he will use the US justice system as a tool to go after his political opponents. But the explicit threat of violence against one of his prominent critics will exacerbate fears that the US will slide into authoritarianism if Trump defeats Harris on Tuesday.

Trump’s attack on Cheney comes as Harris is trying to gain ground among conservative voters who are opposed to the Republican nominee and many of whom voted for Nikki Haley, the former US ambassador to the UN, in the Republican primary earlier this year.