Jonah Goldberg's 'Firing Squad' Remark, the 2024 Election, and Our Descent Into Orwellianism

In a less crazy world, one might simply put the incident behind us and tell Goldberg that he should be more careful with his adverbs. But something is happening.

Dispatch Editor-in-Chief Jonah Goldberg had a doozy Friday when he slammed former Donald Trump over comments the former president made to Tucker Carlson about Liz Cheney, whom he described as a “radical war hawk.”

“He’s saying quite explicitly and unambiguously that Liz Cheney should be shot,” Goldberg said on CNN, “should be executed by firing squad. That is appalling.”

The problem is, Trump didn’t say anything close to this. Here is what he actually said.

“Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. Let’s see how she feels about it, you know when the guns are trained on her face. You know, they’re all war hawks when they’re sitting in Washington, in a nice building saying, ‘Oh, gee, well, let’s send — let’s send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy.’”

To his credit, Goldberg, whom I respect as a thinker and for many years was a fan of, quickly issued an apology.

This morning on CNN I referred to Trump’s “rifles” quote as him advocating a “firing squad” for Liz Cheney. I was reacting in haste to what were objectively appalling and irresponsible comments that had been framed in the set-up piece in the context of previous statements Trump made about shooting protestors and having generals “executed.” Still, I was wrong to say he was calling for a firing squad execution. After I said that, my co-panelist, Brad Todd made the case that I was wrong. Brad was right and, again, I was wrong. Trump was making – albeit in his customary fashion – a different argument about Cheney’s alleged foreign policy views and the use of force. I let my disgust at Trump’s comments get the better of me as this was the first time I’d heard them.

There are problems with the apology. Goldberg accepts responsibility, but he also blames Trump—the man he falsely accused of calling for the public execution of one of his political critics!—and says presidential contender’s comments were “objectively appalling and irresponsible.”

Trump’s comments were not “objectively appalling,” however. They may have been clumsy, but he was making a valid point, one that I and many others have made over the years: that politicians in DC don't hate war nearly as much as they should because they themselves don’t have to directly bear its costs. They don’t face the rifles and bullets. Nor do their children.

The leftist Michael Moore famously made this point more than 20 years, when he showed up at the Capitol and asked members of Congress if their children would be fighting in the war they were voting for.

‘A Possible Death Threat’

In a less crazy world, one might simply put the incident behind us and tell Goldberg that he should be more careful with his adverbs. (It’s odd. Goldberg is a celebrated writer, yet he doesn’t even appear to understand what words like "explicitly," "unambiguously," and “objectively” mean.)

Unfortunately, despite Goldberg’s apology, which made it clear Trump wasn’t calling for Liz Cheney’s execution, the story went supersonic.

Everyone was using it as evidence that Trump had called for his opponent to be shot by firing squad. This was no doubt in part because Cheney herself claimed she was “threatened” by Trump.

The partisans were furious that media were not covering Trump’s violent threats more.

Soon, MSNBC was reporting that Arizona’s attorney general was exploring opening a criminal investigation against the former president.

A Familiar Pattern

Watching all of this with one eye yesterday left me with a feeling of dread.

Like many people, I’m feeling anxious about the upcoming election. Though I try to not get too consumed with electoral politics, which I think is a distraction from far more important things, as we get closer to Nov. 5 I’m getting more unsettled.

Each day, as we draw closer to Election Tuesday, I see the politics of fear grow stronger. The lies get more intense, and the truth gets crushed beneath them.

If you doubt this, just watch Mark Ruffalo’s screed below, in which he says that Trump wanted to ban Muslims, inject bleach Americans with bleach, called Nazis “very fine people,” and violated Americans with lightbulbs.

As Tom Woods pointed out on X, none of these things happened. (And even the things that did happen, like government lockdowns that resulted in a surge of violence and economic pain, were things that Ruffalo supported!) It’s almost as if somewhere wrote a speech for Ruffalo that was designed to include the worst and salacious lies about Trump.

No, Trump Did Not Call Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists 'Very Fine People'

Vox: Supreme Court rules in favor of Trump’s travel ban

SNOPES: Trump Didn't Tell People to 'Inject Bleach' for COVID-19. But Here's What He Did Say

I write this article not because I’m a Trump supporter. Longtime readers and those who listen to me on radio programs know I’ve said for years now I don’t think Trump is fit for the presidency and I didn’t want him to run and would not be voting for him in 2024. (All of that said, for the first time in years I’m seriously considering casting a ballot for him out of anger over what I’m witnessing.)

I’m writing because this troubles me.