Livestreaming Nidal Hasan’s Execution Is a Bad Idea
In case you were wondering. "according to the Pew Research Center, two-thirds of U.S. adults favor capital punishment for people convicted of murder".
For Report readers. we're going to be featuring a Clint classic during the actual ceremony.
America did away with public hangings for a reason—and Hasan might want the attention.
By Jason L. Riley, WSJ
Oct. 13, 2026 5:02 pm ET
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants to livestream the execution by firing squad of Nidal Hasan, the terrorist who shot and killed 13 people and wounded dozens more at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009. Even allies of the Trump administration who support the death penalty think this is a bad idea. Vice President JD Vance told reporters he wouldn’t watch it.
One obvious problem with the Pentagon’s plan is that Mr. Hasan and his fellow Islamists would probably like nothing more than a public execution, which would be used as a recruiting tool. Why give someone who has already inflicted so much pain and suffering a propaganda victory as well, when justice can be served without the spectacle?
Damn right I'm throwing this in!
There’s no consensus on whether capital punishment is a strong deterrent, but for many people on the right and left, that’s a secondary concern. Executing certain criminals is a way for civilized societies to express moral outrage at the most depraved acts of cruelty. Even for heinous crimes short of murder, many see it as fitting retribution.
When a Supreme Court ruling in 2008 struck down state laws that made raping a child a capital offense, polling showed that a majority of Americans sided with the states. Both presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, denounced the decision.
Jihadists aren’t deterred by the prospect of dying. They crave martyrdom in hope of inspiring like-minded followers to commit more acts of terror. That’s no reason to spare Mr. Hasan’s life, but it is a reason not to sensationalize his execution. Several Republican lawmakers who usually support the administration have argued that broadcasting Mr. Hasan’s death would reflect poorly on America. “A civilization erodes when it cultivates an appetite for executions as a form of entertainment,” Sen. John Curtis (R., Utah) wrote on social media. Sen. John Kennedy (R., La.) said: “If it were me, I wouldn’t televise it or publicize it or whatever they’re doing. . . . It makes our society coarser, and I wouldn’t do it.”
If anything, Mr. Trump’s lack of polish and social grace has endeared him to his MAGA supporters, so the president isn’t likely to share the senators’ concerns about declining civility. Nevertheless, history teaches us that it would be a mistake to dismiss these objections. In 19th-century New York, people attended public hangings the way they attend Yankees games today.
The events drew such large crowds that city officials eventually had to find bigger venues. One hanging in 1824 drew 50,000 onlookers, nearly a third of New York’s population. “The city would later order future executions moved to nearby Blackwell Island (now Roosevelt Island),” historian Vincent Cannato wrote. “But the public could not get enough. At the next execution, they arrived in boats so numerous they shut down river traffic.”
Eventually, hangings were moved inside the city prison and out of public view, but local officials had no jurisdiction over federal executions, which continued to take place outdoors on Ellis Island in New York Harbor. Before becoming a gateway for millions of immigrants seeking a new life in America, Ellis Island was known as Gibbet Island, a reference to the post on which corpses of criminals were hung for display following an execution.
A contemporary account described one Gibbet Island execution as being “crowded with men and women and children—and on the waters around, were innumerable boats, laden with passengers, from the steamboat and schooner, down to the yawl and canoe.” Public hangings ended there in 1839, but they continued until 1860 on neighboring Bedloe’s Island, where the final execution drew roughly 10,000 spectators. Today, Bedloe’s Island is where you’ll find the Statue of Liberty.
By the early 1900s, executions had mostly been removed from the public square. America’s growing middle class had developed different sensibilities. Shame and humiliation were no longer the priority. Public hangings increasingly were viewed as cruel, medieval and undignified. The carnival atmosphere embarrassed law enforcement and elected officials alike. Executions not only were moved indoors or behind walls but occurred late at night. The criminal-justice system became more professional, and less-theatrical punishments were deemed more humane.
According to the Pew Research Center, two-thirds of U.S. adults favor capital punishment for people convicted of murder. Mr. Hasan’s surviving victims and his victim’s families should be able to witness his death, but broadcasting the execution for millions of gawkers would be retrogressive and counterproductive. Justice would be better served without the fanfare he presumably desires. State executions may be appropriate, but they don’t need to be glorified.
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