close
close

Trump says Liz Cheney wouldn’t be a ‘war hawk’ if ‘guns were pointed at her face’

GLENDALE, Ariz. – During an on-stage event dominated by extensive and derogatory attacks on his opponents, former President Donald Trump suggested – just four days before Election Day – that one of his top Republican critics would not be such a “war.” hawk’ if she had weapons ‘pointed at her face’.

Trump, sitting in a chair next to right-wing media personality Tucker Carlson for what was billed as a live interview event, told an arena of thousands of supporters Thursday that President Joe Biden was a “stupid son of a bitch” and that his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris was “a sleaze bag.”

He also said he would let Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, “do whatever he wants” during his second administration on health care policy, noting that his new political ally “wants to look at the vaccines.”

“He really wants to get into the pesticides and the, you know, all these different things. I said, he can do it,” Trump said of the former independent presidential candidate. “He can do anything he wants. He wants to look at the vaccines. He wants – everything. I love it,” Trump continued.

Follow live updates on the 2024 elections

But the former president, no stranger to personal attacks, saved his most violent comments for former Rep. Liz Cheney. They were the latest example of Trump using violent rhetoric against his perceived enemies.

In a lengthy and uncompromising riff on Cheney, Trump seemed to insinuate that the former congresswoman would be less of a “war hawk” — as Trump called her — if she were at war herself with guns “pointed at her face.”

“She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her there with a gun while nine barrels shoot her,” Trump said. “Okay, let’s see what she thinks about it. You know when the guns are pointed at her face – you know, they’re all war hawks when they’re in a nice building in Washington,” Trump continued.

Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Friday: “President Trump clearly explained that warmongers like Liz Cheney are quick to start wars and send other Americans to fight against them, rather than taking up the fight themselves.”

In an updated statement later Friday morning, Leavitt said Trump’s comments were “100% accurate” and claimed the response to the comments was “the latest false media outrage days before the election, in a blatant attempt to interfere on Kamala’s behalf Harris.”

In the aftermath of the January 6 attack on the Capitol, the relationship between Trump and Cheney deteriorated. Cheney and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, one of the architects of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, have endorsed Harris over Trump.

Liz Cheney meets the press
Cheney, here on NBC News’ Meet The Press, has been an outspoken critic of her party’s presidential candidate.William B. Plowman / NBC News

“She is a stupid person,” Trump said Thursday evening of the Republican former congresswoman, also calling her “a bad person” and a “very stupid individual.” Carlson called her Dick Cheney’s “repulsive little daughter.”

Trump explicitly told the crowd in Arizona that he will only lose next Tuesday’s election if there is “cheating,” paving the way for contesting a possible loss.

“Just stop the cheating,” he said. “The only thing that can stop us is deception. It’s the only thing that can stop us.”

Liz Cheney recently appeared on the campaign trail with Harris and warned of Trump’s attempts to undermine the will of voters.

Cheney responded to Trump on social media early Friday.

“This is how dictators destroy free nations,” she posted on 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. #Womenwillnotbesilenced #VoteKamala.”

Campaign spokesman Ian Sams said in a statement condemning Trump’s comments, saying the former president is “so preoccupied with his grievances that he ignores the people he disagrees with and who, according to him, are against him politically, treat him as enemies. “

Former Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., who survived an assassination attempt in 2011, called on other Republicans to reprimand Trump for his comments and appealed to voters to reject his “calls for violence and retaliation” in a statement on X through her gun violence prevention organization.

“Declaring that someone should be shot just because they support another candidate is un-American,” she said. “Every Republican who claims to respect the Constitution and the rule of law has a responsibility to immediately speak out against Donald Trump’s dangerous comments.”

In other cases, Trump suggested during the campaign that Gen. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, deserved to receive the death penalty. He has also called for shoplifters to be shot on the spot.

Trump’s demeaning comments about his perceived enemies come at a time when polls show many women are consistently wary of his candidacy — a gender gap that favors Harris by more than double digits in most polls nationally. So far, women have also voted significantly more often early than men.

Harris has tried to emphasize this in the closing stages of the race.

She told NBC News in an exclusive interview Thursday that Trump’s comments this week about protecting women, whether they “like it or not,” are a sign of the way he “devalues” women.

Trump made the harsh comments in crucial Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix and has Arizona’s largest population. In 2020, Trump’s drift, driven by independents, women and suburban voters, led to the county voting against the Republican presidential nominee for the first time in decades, costing Trump Arizona’s 11 electoral votes.

Trump also touted from the podium what would amount to a stunning and consequential proposal: that he turn to Elon Musk to help massively cut the federal budget, possibly even by a third of current annual spending levels. Neither Trump nor Musk have provided details on which programs or even agencies they would eliminate to meet such a staggering budget cut.

“He thinks he can save $2 trillion — in which case we won’t have a deficit,” Trump said. “Two trillion dollars a year, by the way!”

After two previous daytime campaign rallies — in New Mexico and Nevada — Trump concluded his latest stop well into the western night with demeaning name-calling and semi-tangential comments that lasted several minutes.

Trump Tucker Carlson
Trump with Carlson at the end of the lengthy live interview in Glendale, Arizona, Thursday evening.Patrick T. Fallon / AFP – Getty Images

Before Trump took the stage, Carlson delivered an oration on masculinity in which he mocked Second Gen. Doug Emhoff and Gov. Tim Walz, whom he called the “creepy guy who follows (Harris) on the campaign trail.”

In the final days of his third presidential campaign, Trump has hit the road without his former Republican rivals, such as former Amb. Nikki Haley, Governor Ron DeSantis or Senator Tim Scott. He also has not aligned himself with Georgia’s popular Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.

Instead, Trump has chosen to align himself with provocative figures like Charlie Kirk, who said this week that women secretly voting for Harris in the election would “undermine their husbands,” and Carlson, who was fired by Fox News.