Less than a week before Election Day, Donald Trump last night called on one of his prominent political opponents to face a firing squad. In an on-stage interview with Tucker Carlson in Arizona, Trump called Liz Cheney, the former Republican representative from Wyoming, “a very stupid individual” and “a radical war hawk.”

“You know they’re all war hawks when they sit in a nice building in Washington and say, Oh dear, let’s send 10,000 troops straight into the enemy’s mouth,Trump said. “Let’s put her there with a gun while nine barrels shoot her, okay? Let’s see how she feels about, you know, having the guns pointed at her face.

Like Trump’s hateful rally at Madison Square Garden last weekend, these comments are a good summary of what he would bring to the White House if re-elected. His campaign is based on violence, disregard for the rule of law and retaliation against anyone who might disagree with him.

David A. Graham: This is Trump’s message

“This is how dictators destroy free nations,” Cheney responded to X. “They threaten with death those who speak out against them. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vengeful, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.”

Trump’s campaign said Trump was “talking about how Liz Cheney wants to send America’s sons and daughters to fight in wars, despite never having been in a war herself.” Trump is not wrong that Cheney has often advocated foreign military interventions. She can and should be criticized for many of her views. But Trump is not calling for a debate. He vividly imagined Cheney with “guns pointed at her face.” Normalizing the discussion about shooting political opponents is a step in a dangerous direction.

These comments cannot be dismissed as jokes, the excuse Trump typically uses when he oversteps boundaries. (He seems less concerned about disapproval these days.) Trump wasn’t laughing when he said it. Neither does Carlson and the audience. Moreover, Trump has repeatedly called for the use of the military against his political critics. He has proposed using the military against “enemies from within,” a group that generally includes “radical left lunatics,” but also includes former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff, both California Democrats. He has amplified calls for Truth Social to have former President Barack Obama appear before a military tribunal (for what crimes one can only guess). He has said retired Gen. Mark Milley, whom he appointed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, should be executed.

Anne Applebaum: Trump wants you to accept all of this as normal

Still, some voters may go to the polls without a proper understanding of his rhetorical record. Trump makes so many outrageous comments that it’s hard to keep track of them all, and some parts of the press continue to downplay even his most dangerous remarks. Inside the head The New York Times to Trump’s Cheney comments at the time of writing was: “Trump attacks Liz Cheney using violent war imagery,” which is not strictly incorrect, but misses the point.

In these comments, Trump blatantly showed his hypocrisy. Although the former president has transformed himself into an alleged dove, he once supported some of the same conflicts as Cheney, including the Iraq War. And while he claims he wants to avoid foreign adventurism, he spent his first term talking himself out of attacking Venezuela, North Korea and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, among others. He and his allies are now proposing that the US military launch attacks on cartels in Mexico.

David A. Graham: Trump is not bluffing

Trump also proposes new uses of the military at home, not only against his enemies, but also to carry out a mass deportation. He has encouraged brutal police and vigilante attacks by civilians. Trump may hate war, but he loves violence.

Maybe voters shouldn’t put this man in command of so many people armed with guns.