donald trump said former Rep. Liz Cheney is a “war hawk” who should be shot, as he raged at one of his most prominent critics within the party while campaigning Thursday night in Arizona.

“She is a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels firing at her, okay? the former president said at a campaign event in Glendale with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. “Let’s see how he feels about it, you know, when the guns are pointed in his face.”

Trump also hurled insults at Cheney, once the third-highest-ranking Republican in the House leadership, calling her “very dumb,” a “stupid person” and “a moron.”

Trump’s suggestion that Cheney be shot 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 defeat in 2020, has already undermined public confidence. In recent weeks, he has also suggested military repression against political opponents he has described as “the enemy within.”

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

Cheney responded to Trump’s comments overnight by saying, “This is how dictators destroy free nations.”

in a publish in XThe former congresswoman continues: “They threaten to kill those who speak against them. “We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a mean, vindictive, cruel and unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.”

In recent weeks, Cheney has campaigned together Vice President Kamala Harris, urging Republicans to put aside partisan differences to back the Democrat and reject a candidate she says represents a threat to democracy.

Trump said Thursday he was surprised by former Vice President Dick Cheney also endorsed Harrisbecause he had pardoned Cheney’s former chief of staff, Scooter Libby, who was convicted of perjury in 2007.

“I don’t blame him for sticking with his daughter, but his daughter is a very dumb, very dumb person,” Trump said.

Trump called Cheney a “stupid person” and claimed that when the Wyoming Republican was in the House Republican leadership, “he always wanted to go to war with people.”

“You know, everyone’s a war hawk when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building, saying… ‘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 that a heckler deserved to be “manhandled” and said he would like to punch another heckler in the face.

Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper wrote in his memoirs that while in office, Trump raised the idea of ​​shooting protesters who took to the streets around the White House after the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

“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 his retribution.” Days later, he said at a rally in Waco, Texas, that the 2024 election would be “the final battle.”

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

Harris has called out Trump’s actions and rhetoric, including in a speech he gave this week from the Ellipse in Washington, the same place where Trump gave his speech on January 6, 2021, as he tries to court independents and moderate Republicans.

“Donald Trump intends to use the United States military against American citizens who simply disagree with him. People he calls “the enemy within.” “This is not a presidential candidate who is thinking about how to make his life better,” Harris said in her remarks Tuesday night. “This is someone unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed by grievance and greedy for uncontrolled power.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

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