Given another recent assassination attempt on President Trump’s life and the increasing prevalence of left-wing domestic violence in America over the past decade, we should pursue what ought not be a controversial solution: bringing back swift, guaranteed public executions.
When President McKinley was shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz on Sept. 6, 1901, Czolgosz was convicted and executed by Oct. 29, 1901. In our own time, there are multiple high-profile criminals currently in custody who should be convicted and executed promptly and publicly. Ryan Routh, convicted in federal court for his assassination attempt on Trump at Mar-a-Lago in September 2024, is serving a life sentence. Why do we tolerate his imprisonment, even as we have continued to witness ongoing attempts on the life of the president and vice president? Routh should be executed publicly to send the clearest message to all the enemies who entertain ideas about assassinating President Trump.
Cole Allen, the recent would-be assassin, should also be convicted and executed publicly. Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan alien who attacked and shot two national guardsmen in Washington, D.C., last Thanksgiving, should be convicted and executed publicly. DeCarlos Brown, the black felon with 14 prior arrests who stabbed Iryna Zarutska on the rail in Charlotte, was pronounced mentally incompetent by the state court and thus “incapable to proceed” to trial. Thankfully, President Trump’s Department of Justice, fulfilling the president’s own promises, brought federal charges against Brown in federal court, so he is not likely to get off the hook now. He should be convicted and executed as quickly as possible. Former FedEx driver Tanner Horner, convicted of murdering seven-year-old Athena Strand in 2022, was recently sentenced to the death penalty in Texas. This is undoubtedly encouraging — a prime example of someone who deserves execution — but even this sentence comes years after the crime was committed.
In all of these cases mentioned, the guilt of the accused is not at all in question; it is absurd that these criminals have not already been executed.
Illegal Alien Criminals
We should also have swift convictions and executions for illegal aliens who have committed brutal rapes, murders, and other violent assaults upon Americans, such as the recent horrifying case of Haitian alien Rolbert Joachin in Florida, who is accused of brutally murdering a woman with a hammer. However, in the current political and legal framework, deportation may likely be the faster and easier solution, posing fewer opportunities for leftist judges and advocacy groups to intervene, obstruct, and appeal.
The Trump administration is intent on protecting Americans and removing illegal immigrants. Nevertheless, public execution of more illegal alien criminals would go even further in putting the world on notice that we will never again tolerate the invasion and depredations we have witnessed.
Charlie Kirk’s Killer
Lastly, it should go without controversy that Tyler Robinson, the radicalized leftist who has publicly confessed to killing Charlie Kirk and whose DNA evidence on the weapon has been confirmed, should be executed. The murder of Kirk was one of the most devastating blows against the ascendent right, and it was celebrated by leftists across the country. Kirk needs to be avenged, and the nation needs to be put on notice that the left will not win this battle for America.
All politics is predicated on violence, and we can never ultimately have peace and stability without resorting to force against those who don’t submit to lawful government. Capital punishment is effective at deterring the criminals executed, since they can never again commit further crimes against the innocent. Capital punishment also should inspire fear in other would-be criminals when they see this retribution. Even if it cannot be sufficiently demonstrated that capital punishment deters all would-be criminals, since some criminals are incorrigible, it is still a just reprisal.
Slow Process
Swift execution for violent criminals means taxpayers do not need to continually subsidize these wretches’ existence in prison. Even more importantly, executing violent criminals would prevent the possibility (as happens all too frequently in our regime of anarcho-tyranny) of a leftist judge or bureaucrat prematurely releasing criminals so they can commit further crimes. When we see all too frequent, horrific crimes committed by recidivist felons who have a rap sheet of multiple prior arrests and charges, it’s not hard to recognize that if they were executed — or even just locked up — after the first violent crime, we wouldn’t be in this predicament.
Another issue, however, is our justice system — corrupt beyond measure in more ways than can possibly be detailed in this article — which makes the process too complicated to charge, convict, and punish criminals. Especially in these cases of violent crimes in which the guilt of the criminal can be easily and definitely established, it is unthinkable that it takes months or years for the legal process to play out. Trials should be swift, and there need not be endless possibilities for appeal. Juries can convict quickly, and punishments should be administered quickly. When the American people witness shocking crimes, such as the savage murder of Iryna Zarutska or the attempted murder of President Trump, it is baffling why these criminals should be tolerated for months and even years afterwards.
Public Execution
And the executions should be public. Some sensitive souls might recoil at what seems like bloodlust, but the times and circumstances call for it. Due to the metastasizing empathy of our liberal society and the insidious effects of the civil rights regime, we have suffered under ineffective law enforcement for decades. Thomas Jefferson, in his 1778 proposed revisions to ameliorate the Virginia criminal codes, expressed optimism that Europe and America were growing more enlightened, and he accordingly hoped this could justify increasingly lighter criminal penalties as societal morals and knowledge increased. It’s also worth noting that even Jefferson’s “liberal” suggestions would be considered severe by today’s standards. However, even if Jefferson saw society progressing in his day, the opposite is true for us today: we need more severity, punishment, and deterrence — not less. Criminals insufficiently fear law enforcement today and are seemingly insensitive to what little punishments are doled out.
Sadly, recent generations in Western nations seem to have fulfilled Nietzsche’s worst predictions from Beyond Good and Evil. Anticipating that modern egalitarian society would become afflicted with destructively ubiquitous empathy and compassion, Nietzsche said society would become “so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it.” Because of the trends Nietzsche was describing, criminals have come to be viewed as objects of compassion, rather than as dishonorable individuals to be punished. For this to change, we must restore public executions and other punishments.
Next Steps
What must be done practically to bring about this change? We must shift and give voice to reasonable public opinion, but this must translate into legislative and administrative changes.
Practically, red states should pass laws streamlining the process of criminal justice and mandating capital punishment for certain categories of violent offenses. They should also mandate the appeals process and timeline to keep it from becoming drawn out endlessly by procedural obstacles. They could mandate methods of execution (e.g., hanging, firing squads) and even a requirement of publicity.
Red states should also pass laws to bring consequences upon judges who release recidivist criminals and to generally control the judiciary, parole, and probation. The more room for discretion, the more possibility that pro-criminal sympathies can wreak havoc. In cases of existing pro-criminal judges, they should be removed by any legal method possible. In states and jurisdictions where judges are elected or serve at the will of the legislature, the makeup of the judiciary should be reformed as much as possible to install staunchly pro-law-and-order judges. Jury trials likely also need to be reformed, given the way they have been corrupted by diversity and leftist sympathies. And of course, such proposed changes will inevitably be challenged by leftist plaintiffs and potentially blocked in federal courts, which would give states the opportunity to press their suit.
For blue states and jurisdictions, a right-wing administration like President Trump’s should enforce federal laws as strictly as possible and put external pressure on those jurisdictions to reform their law enforcement and criminal punishments. The ongoing efforts from President Trump and his DOJ to restore the death penalty for federal prisoners and even firing squads as a method of execution are encouraging.
Can we even consider ourselves a moral society if we are too afraid to wield the sword against the wicked and deranged criminals who wreak havoc on the rest of society? Public executions would let the whole world know that the American government will protect its citizens and brutally crush those who commit lawless violence.
