Left-wing media outlets such as MSNBC and CNN on Friday morning latched onto comments made by 2024 GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump about former US Rep Liz Cheney, claiming that Trump wants to see Cheney in front of a firing squad. Trump was talking about how Cheney is a war hawk and would act differently if faced with the guns of war herself.

Trump, speaking with Tucker Carlson in Glendale, Arizona, called Cheney "a very dumb individual" and a "radical war hawk."

"Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, okay? Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face," he said. "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.' But she's a stupid person. And I used to have, I'd have meetings with a lot of people, and she always wanted to go to war with people."

In response to the comments, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough said, "because Liz Cheney objected to those riots, the way things were handled, she's an enemy of the state to Donald Trump, and on his closing weekend, he's calling for nine guns to be pointed at her face to execute her."

"He's saying quite explicitly and unambiguously that Liz Cheney should be shot, should be executed by firing squad," journalist Jonah Goldberg told a panel of CNN hosts. 

"Four days out from Election Day and former President Donald Trump is escalating his violent rhetoric, suggesting one of his most prominent critics, former Congresswoman Liz Cheney, should be fired upon," a CNN host said.

Posting the short, out-of-context clip, Cheney wrote, "This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant," adding the hashtag "women will not be silenced" and "vote Kamala."

In response, podcaster Megyn Kelly said "You were not threatened with death you absolute phony. You were called out on how quickly you’d willingly cause the death of our children."

Others came to Trump’s defense, saying that the comment had been taken out of context, pointing out that he was referring to Cheney being a war hawk, not that he wanted her killed.

"Trump did NOT call for Liz Cheney to be executed," wrote Harris surrogate Joe Walsh. "This is what’s so wrong with our politics today. Look, you know how I feel about Trump, and I’ve been out there every day for 2-3 months campaigning my a** off to help get Kamala Harris elected, but this short clip is so deceptive. Trump is NOT calling for Liz Cheney to be executed in front of a firing line. He’s not."

"Folks, Trump didn't threaten to execute Liz Cheney. He actually was calling her a chickenhawk, something liberals said about her for ages," wrote Vox senior correspondent Zack Beauchamp. "Look at the context — Trump is talking about giving her a weapon. Typically, people put in front of firing squads aren't armed."

"This is one of the most pathetic media lies about Trump in awhile, and that's saying a lot," wrote journalist Glenn Greenwald. "Trump was making the valid—and important—point that, like many in DC, Liz Cheney is a maniacal warmonger because it's never her or her dad that endures the horrors of war."

Others noted the contrast in the media saying Biden’s comments about Trump supporters being "garbage" were taken out of context because of an apostrophe, while Trump’s comments on Cheney were taken at face value.