“Off with their heads!” so says the Queen of Hearts in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” The Queen of Hearts, known for her quick temper, harsh punishments, and irrational manner, often orders beheadings for the slightest offenses, although these orders are never actually carried out.
Carrol’s book is fantastical literature, but in today’s politics we have a real Queen of Hearts who issues death sentences in the form of lawsuits, threats of imprisonment, and career-ending “deaths.” Needless to say, we all know I’m talking about Donald Trump, former president and self-appointed judge and jury of all offenses, real or imagined, against him.
Rep. Liz Cheney, who was vice chair of the Jan. 6 investigation committee, is a particular target of Trump’s mania for “retribution.” In recent days Trump has amplified posts on social media calling for a televised military tribunal for Cheney and the jailing of top elected officials, including President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and a slew of opponents including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, his own former Vice President Mike Pence, and members of the House select committee that investigated the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
“ELIZABETH LYNNE CHENEY IS GUILTY OF TREASON,” a post created by another user that Trump amplified on his social media website Truth Social, on Sunday reads. “RETRUTH IF YOU WANT TELEVISED MILITARY TRIBUNALS.”
The American public knows Donald Trump well by now. As one social media commenter wrote: “Vengeance will be the order of the day if he wins, and we know he’s not inhibited by any sense of morality.” Trump himself does not deny that he is after payback if he wins a second term, stating, “sometimes revenge can be justified.”
Trump previously called for Cheney to be prosecuted over allegations she and the other Jan. 6 select committee members purposely withheld testimony and details from their investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks at the Capitol. Cheney has pushed back on these calls, saying that he knows “these are lies.”
She struck back on X with, “Donald – This is the type of thing that demonstrates yet again that you are not a stable adult—and are not fit for office.”
Trump’s ignorance of how the American government works is legendary, the fact that he has chosen a military tribunal is puzzling. A military tribunal is a type of court that is used to try members of enemy forces during wartime, as well as other individuals who are accused of violating the laws of war. What is Cheney’s military position? Which war did she fight in? What rules of war did she violate?
An article in Foreign Policy, written in September 2020, at the end of the Trump presidency, lists ten ways in which Donald Trump “is becoming a dictator.”
It is a very enlightening list that covers systematic efforts to intimidate the media, building an official pro-Trump media network, using government surveillance against domestic political opponents and “Using state power to reward corporate backers and punish opponents,” in addition to fearmongering and stacking the Supreme Court with loyalists.
Trump is not shy about announcing his intentions, whether that be to be a dictator “for a day” if he is re-elected, or to prosecute political enemies by using banana republic methods.
But he is not fooling everyone. One user, hopefully echoing the sentiments of many, said it best: “She [Cheney] is a true patriot. She stood up for this country, knowingly sacrificing her own political career. She put the good of the country over party. That is why I will be writing in her name on my presidential ballot in November. She won’t win but I will sleep well at night.”
