CNN
—

Donald Trump said former Rep. Liz Cheney is a “war hawk” who should be fired upon as he raged against one of his most prominent critics within the party while campaigning in Arizona on Thursday night.

“She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her there with a gun while nine barrels shoot her, okay?’ the former president said at a campaign event in Glendale with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. “Let’s see how she feels about, you know, having the guns pointed at her face.”

Trump also hurled insults at Cheney, once the third-ranking Republican leader in the House of Representatives, calling her “very stupid,” a “stupid person” and “the idiot.”

Trump’s suggestion to target Cheney represents an escalation of the violent language he has used to attack his political enemies. And it comes days before an election in which the former president — who never accepted his 2020 loss — has already undermined public confidence. In recent weeks he has also proposed military action against political opponents whom he has described as “the enemy within.”

Cheney is perhaps the most outspoken Republican critic of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his role in his supporters’ January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. She played a leading role on the House committee that investigated the attack, and was later ousted from her deep red Wyoming House seat in 2022 by a Trump-backed primary opponent.

In recent weeks, Cheney has campaigned alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, urging Republicans to put aside party differences, support the Democrat and reject a candidate she says poses a threat to democracy.

Trump said Thursday he was surprised that former Vice President Dick Cheney also supported Harris after pardoning Cheney’s former chief of staff Scooter Libby, who was convicted of perjury in 2007.

“I don’t blame him for staying with his daughter, but his daughter is a very stupid individual – very stupid,” Trump said.

Trump said Cheney is a “stupid person” and claimed that when the Wyoming Republican was in the Republican leadership, “she always wanted to make war with people.”

“You know, they’re all war hawks when they sit in a nice building in Washington and say… ‘Let’s send 10,000 troops right into the enemy’s mouth,’” he said.

Trump’s use of violent language dates back to his first presidential campaign, in 2015 and 2016, when he suggested a troublemaker deserved to be “rigged” and said he would like to punch someone in the face.

Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper wrote in his memoir that while in office, Trump floated the idea of ​​shooting protesters who took to the streets around the White House following the 2020 killing of George Floyd.

‘Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something? Trump asked, according to Esper.

He began his bid for the 2024 Republican nomination by telling the Conservative Political Action Conference meeting: “I am your retaliation.” Days later, he said at a rally in Waco, Texas, that the 2024 election would be “the last battle.”

And throughout his campaign, he has described those convicted for their actions during the Capitol riot as “hostages.”

Harris has pointed to Trump’s actions and rhetoric — including in a speech she gave this week from the Ellipse in Washington, the same place where Trump delivered his Jan. 6, 2021, speech — as she tries to court independents and moderate Republicans to take.

“Donald Trump plans to use the US military against American citizens who simply disagree with him. People he calls ‘the enemy from within’. This is not a presidential candidate thinking about how to make your life better,” Harris said in her remarks Tuesday night. “This is someone who is unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with resentment and bent on unchecked power.”

This story has been updated with additional details.