According to Donald Trump, Liz Cheney, one of his most outspoken Republican detractors, would not be a “radical war hawk” if she had been in combat herself and had been “trained on her face” with a gun.
The Kamala Harris campaign criticized the Republican presidential candidate’s “violent rhetoric” after he made the comments in an interview with Tucker Carlson, a former Fox News host.
The Trump campaign denounced Cheney as a belligerent and dismissed the criticism.
Friday, the former congresswoman from Wyoming retorted, saying, “This is how dictators destroy free nations.”
She wrote, “They threaten those who speak against them with death,” on X, the former Twitter platform. “We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.”
“Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, okay?,” Trump said to Carlson Thursday night in Glendale, one of the biggest cities in Arizona, a swing state. Let’s see what she thinks of it. When the guns are aimed at her face, you know.”
He continued: “They’re all war hawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building saying, ‘Oh, gee, well let’s send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy.’”
On a Wisconsin tarmac, Kamala Harris called Trump’s comments “disqualifying” in a Friday interview with reporters.
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However, she claimed that Trump is becoming more unstable and insane, views his political rivals as enemies, and is always seeking retribution.
“Liz Cheney is a tough person, she is an incredible American and I have an incredible amount of respect for her.”
“All I’m saying about Liz Cheney is that she is a War Hawk, and a dumb one at that, but she wouldn’t have “the guts” to fight herself,” Trump wrote in defense of himself on his Truth Social platform.
During his three terms in the US House of Representatives, Cheney served as the third-highest ranking Republican in the House and represented a district in Wyoming.
She has backed Harris, claiming that Trump “can never be trusted with power again” because of his actions during the 2021 US Capitol riot.
She has joined Harris in campaign appearances over the past month in an attempt to connect with disgruntled Republicans in crucial swing states.
She disagreed with Trump over the Capitol riot and supported his second impeachment, despite having voted largely with him during his White House tenure.
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Her father, Dick Cheney, the former vice president of the United States, has also stated that he will vote for Harris in 2024.
Prior to Tuesday’s vote, polls indicate that Trump and Harris are in a dead heat for the White House.