October 8, 2026.

The Pentagon announced plans to livestream the December 3 firing-squad execution of Nidal Hasan, convicted of murdering 13 people and wounding 32 at Fort Hood in 2009.

The government wants an audience.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discussed the execution aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, returning from the Iran war.

The ship arrived home in San Diego today after 321 days deployed, including a record 265 consecutive days without a port visit.

Nearly 5,000 sailors endured food shortages, plumbing problems and mounting mental-health concerns. Eight suicide attempts were reported aboard the ship.

Hegseth awarded the crew the Presidential Unit Citation for its combat operations against Iran.

And the timing?

Just three days earlier, at an October 5 rally in Nebraska, President Trump said:

“Let ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego.”

He was defending the economic cost of the Iran war, arguing that preventing future Iranian attacks justified higher prices.

San Diego.

The same city welcoming thousands of exhausted American service members home from that war.

Now the historical context:

• 1936: America’s last widely recognized public execution.
• 1961: The last U.S. military execution.
• 2026: The Pentagon plans to livestream one.

Hasan’s crimes were horrific. His death sentence is established.

But carrying out a sentence and broadcasting a killing are two different decisions.

Hegseth says people should witness the consequences of serious crimes.

Historically, public executions demonstrated state power before a crowd.

Now the crowd gets a screen.

A president naming American cities in a hypothetical attack. A warship returning with an exhausted crew. A Defense Secretary announcing a livestreamed execution.

Apparently, the future looks a lot like the past.

Just with better cameras.