American barbarism

American barbarism

WITH the spectre of defeat in the upcoming midterm elections looming large over the Trump administration, the Republicans are resorting to desperate attempts to rally their base. Right-wing American media, GOP candidates, and the incumbent US administration, who have spewed Islamophobia ad nauseam, have now found a perfect prop in convicted mass murderer Nidal Hasan, who shot and killed 13 at the Texas Fort Hood military base in 2009. Hasan is to be executed by firing squad on Dec 3, according to a Pentagon announcement, and US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is to ensure his execution is livestreamed to the world. Seemingly threatened by the emergence of progressive, well-liked Democratic politicians such as Zohran Mamdani and Abdul el-Sayed, both of whom have greatly upset those who believe American politics should be limited to specific religions and races, the Trump administration is asserting its version of American ‘greatness’. And, having run out of political answers, it is doing so in the most Trumpian manner imaginable: by publicly killing a Muslim man and celebrating the accomplishment. To be clear, Hasan has been convicted under US law and — although this paper does not support executions — deserves to be punished for his crimes. However, to turn him into a prop for election theatrics is a new low even for the current Trump administration. It is no wonder that the announcement of a livestreamed execution has drawn condemnation from both sides of the aisle and led critics to draw parallels with the lynchings of Black Americans — a similar public spectacle in early 20th-century America. If this grotesque and reprehensible deed is accomplished, the US will join the ranks of a handful of totalitarian states that have practised public executions in recent memory. That list includes the Afghan Taliban regime. As Nietzsche warned, “if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you”. America is gradually turning into the regimes it most despises. Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2026