When the State Proposes a Public Spectacle, a Vice President Pauses

There is a particular discomfort that arises when the machinery of state violence is placed on public display—when the act of execution, traditionally carried out behind prison walls, is proposed as something to be watched, livestreamed, consumed. This week, Vice President JD Vance gave voice to that discomfort, even as he affirmed the justice of the sentence itself.

Speaking to reporters Friday, Vance expressed doubt about the Pentagon's plan to livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist convicted in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting that killed 13 people. "I don't know that that's actually going to happen," Vance said. He added that if the December execution is livestreamed, "I'm not going to be watching it" .

The plan, announced earlier this week by the Pentagon, would make Hasan's execution the first military execution in more than 60 years. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that the execution would be livestreamed for the public, explaining that "people need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things" .

Vance condemned Hasan's crimes in stark terms, describing the attack as "the worst terrorist attack on American soil outside of 9/11." He noted that Hasan was meant to treat soldiers for mental illness and other problems and "took them at their most vulnerable and gunned down these people where they lived" .

The livestream proposal drew criticism from across the political spectrum. Republican Senator John Curtis pointed to Rome's history of "bloody spectacle" corrupting those who watched, warning that public executions erode civilizations "when it cultivates an appetite for executions as a form of entertainment." Democratic Senator Chris Murphy called the idea "disgusting" and reminiscent of executions carried out by the Islamic State group. Georgia Republican Austin Scott said live-streaming executions "is what jihadists do" .

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops expressed "shock and great sorrow," and the UN human rights office said livestreaming would be "tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture" .

When asked about how his Catholic faith informed his stance, Vance returned to the crimes themselves. "Whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don't forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people," he said .

Hasan, who admitted to the shootings and said he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan from the U.S. military, is scheduled to be executed on December 3. Military law requires presidential approval and appellate review before the execution can proceed .

The White House did not respond to inquiries about whether Trump supported the livestream plans. The Pentagon reiterated Friday that the execution "will be livestreamed" but provided no further details .

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Sources: BBC, CBC News, Yahoo News, Belfast Telegraph