Oct 14, 2026 · 23 min · 10 segments
The Pentagon’s plans to livestream the execution of a former US army psychiatrist who murdered 13 soldiers at an army base has been met with disbelief in many quarters. Even so, the plan, which would…
Peter HartcherGuest
Samantha Selinger-MorrisHostSo let's just start off with this planned live-streamed execution, which is set to take place on December 3rd.
What is happening, Peter? Last week, the Pentagon said the public would be able to view the execution live, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said in an interview that this would be by firing squad.
It should be.
And we'll make sure that people are able to, to watch it, that it's public, uh, because people need to understand that w- this is, uh, there's serious consequences for these types of things.
Well, you said do you feel like sometimes like you're living in the twilight zone.
It's a congressional and gubernatorial election, it's not a presidential election.
His approval rating is, uh, at a record low, and the presumption is that Trump is trying to work his way out of that difficult position of being a, a major drag on the Rep- Republican Party and a major problem for their reelection prospects by trying to distract.
On the one hand, he is trying to address the underlying problem that he has, which is the economic pain he's caused the American consumer and, on the other, he seems to be wildly thrashing around with distractions.
Um, there are very few countries in the world that conduct public executions.
For example, how does this make, in this sense at least, America any different to Iran, the country that the US is at war with? Uh, so it certainly, uh, has proved a talking point, uh, maybe a distraction, although I don't know if it's the right sort of distraction that Trump and the Republican Party really need, uh, for an election campaign.
So let's just start off with this planned live-streamed execution, which is set to take place on December 3rd.
What is happening, Peter? Last week, the Pentagon said the public would be able to view the execution live, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said in an interview that this would be by firing squad.
It should be.
And we'll make sure that people are able to, to watch it, that it's public, uh, because people need to understand that w- this is, uh, there's serious consequences for these types of things.
Well, you said do you feel like sometimes like you're living in the twilight zone.
It's a congressional and gubernatorial election, it's not a presidential election.
His approval rating is, uh, at a record low, and the presumption is that Trump is trying to work his way out of that difficult position of being a, a major drag on the Rep- Republican Party and a major problem for their reelection prospects by trying to distract.
On the one hand, he is trying to address the underlying problem that he has, which is the economic pain he's caused the American consumer and, on the other, he seems to be wildly thrashing around with distractions.
Um, there are very few countries in the world that conduct public executions.
For example, how does this make, in this sense at least, America any different to Iran, the country that the US is at war with? Uh, so it certainly, uh, has proved a talking point, uh, maybe a distraction, although I don't know if it's the right sort of distraction that Trump and the Republican Party really need, uh, for an election campaign.
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