Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) accused Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday of steering the country toward authoritarian spectacle. She did so in a blistering post on X, days after the Pentagon confirmed that the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed. Kamlager-Dove mocked Hegseth’s literary habits, called the plan “so dystopian,” and asked how the United States could be “falling in line” with countries known for public executions.
What Kamlager-Dove Wrote
The Los Angeles-area congresswoman posted her statement at 12:55 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. It read in full:
“I would say that Pete Hegseth is drawing inspiration from Orwell’s 1984, but I don’t know that he’s ever picked up a book.
This is so dystopian. How is America falling in line with countries like North Korea and Afghanistan that perform public executions?
Trump is trying to transform this country into the very thing we’ve always fought against.”
Kamlager-Dove attached to the post an Associated Press report by Konstantin Toropin, Eric Tucker and Claudia Lauer. It was headlined “Pentagon says the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed” and had been updated on Thursday evening. It was the only outlet she cited.
The Execution Behind the Post
The Army announced this week that Hasan will be executed at Fort Hood on Dec. 3. He was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in the 2009 shooting at the Texas base. It will be the first military execution in more than 65 years. Pentagon officials clarified Thursday that it will be livestreamed and said more details would follow.
Hegseth first described the execution as public in an interview Wednesday with the conservative outlet Real America’s Voice, recorded aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public,” he said. Asked whether Hasan had made any final requests or contacted the Trump administration, he replied: “Don’t care. We’ll see him on Dec. 3.”
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said Monday that President Donald Trump had approved the execution. The White House referred questions about the livestream to the Pentagon on Thursday. Hegseth said the military has not executed a service member by firing squad since World War II. The last military execution of any kind was on April 13, 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was hanged.
Trump’s Earlier Criticism of Public Executions in Iran
Kamlager-Dove’s closing line, that Trump is remaking the country into what Americans have “always fought against,” lands against a backdrop of Trump’s own past rhetoric. Trump has criticized public executions in Iran, at times citing the prospect of protesters being killed there as a rationale for military action. That led up to his decision to attack Iran on Feb. 28. “It’s stopping, and there’s no plan for executions,” he told reporters on Jan. 14, saying he had been told the killing there was ending. In his State of the Union address days before the war began, he said the U.S. had stopped Iran from hanging many people.
The Global Context
Public executions are rare worldwide. Amnesty International’s report on executions in 2025 documented at least 17 public executions, 11 in Iran and six in Afghanistan. The comparison Kamlager-Dove drew with those countries is the same one that has surfaced among legal scholars reacting to the Pentagon’s plan.
Legal Experts Raise Questions
Experts have been divided. Elisabeth Semel, co-director of the Death Penalty Clinic at UC Berkeley Law, said the announcement raises questions about the defendant’s dignity, about who will be allowed to view the execution, and about the government’s motivation. She said she could not recall a case in which a livestreamed execution was instigated by the government. Semel described Trump as “a president who’s about spectacle.”
Deborah Denno, a Fordham University law professor and death penalty expert, took a different view. She said a livestream could make the process “much more transparent” and inform the public about what capital punishment involves. Brenner Fissell, a Villanova Law professor and vice president of the National Institute of Military Justice, said firing squads are increasingly seen as a less inhumane alternative to lethal injection. He added that the plan’s appeal for Hegseth likely lies in a perceived masculinity and “military-ness,” part of what he called a “lethality culture.”
Questions About Hasan’s Legal Representation
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who held the rank of major, opened fire in a medical building at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, 2009. He represented himself at his 2013 trial, called no witnesses, and made no closing argument. He is paralyzed from the waist down after being shot by law enforcement. Experts say he could file a habeas petition in civilian court, which could delay the execution significantly, though it is unclear whether he will.
Attorney John Galligan, a former military judge who has represented Hasan in civil matters, said Hasan was told of Trump’s approval by the facility’s commandant, who brought a chaplain but no defense attorney. Galligan called that a breach of Army regulations. An Army spokeswoman said multiple attempts were made to reach Trial Defense Service attorneys and that every reasonable effort was made.
Kamlager-Dove’s Record on Hegseth
Saturday’s post is not the first time Kamlager-Dove has targeted the Pentagon chief. In September, a reporter asked her and several other members of Congress whether Hegseth should be impeached. She answered that “every day of the week it is time to do that.” The question came the same week Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned amid reports of a strained relationship with Hegseth.
House Democrats formally introduced six articles of impeachment against Hegseth on April 15, led by Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.). They allege “high crimes and misdemeanors,” including waging war on Iran without congressional authorization and strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats. Pentagon spokesperson Kingsley Wilson dismissed the effort as an attention-seeking bid. With Republicans controlling the House and Senate, the resolution is considered unlikely to advance.
What Comes Next
The execution is scheduled for Dec. 3. The Pentagon has not yet released details of how the livestream will work. Hasan’s next legal step is unclear, as is whether his lawyers will seek to delay the date. The dispute over the livestream is likely to keep drawing reaction from Congress as the date approaches.