Trump said to 'make Pete Hegseth look weak' with new retreat: 'Tactical error'

President Donald Trump scrapped Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plan to livestream the firing squad execution of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan, and critics pounced on his reversal.

In a Truth Social post that didn’t mention Hegseth, Trump said Hasan “will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed," and while the president said a broadcast “might have been a strong deterrent,” he added that many people “would rather not watch him die.”

Hegseth had championed the plan on Real America’s Voice, saying the public should be able to watch, and Pentagon officials later confirmed the plan. Trump himself had said he “absolutely” approved of streaming it.

However, the plan left the Pentagon chief exposed to bipartisan criticism. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) warned the footage could become “a recruiting tool for future terrorists," and Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll found that about 8 in 10 Americans opposed live-streaming the execution, including 64 percent of Republicans.

Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, killed 13 people and wounded 32 at Fort Hood in 2009. His execution is still set for Dec. 3. It would be the first U.S. military execution since 1961 and the military’s first firing squad execution since World War II.

Critics wasted no time weighing in on social media.

"Donald Trump very publicly throws Pete Hegseth under the bus, as he announces that Hasan's execution won't be live-streamed," opined widely followed X user GeoffBrown82. "I love getting 2 for the price of one. This may be the only good decision he's made in Trump 2.0."

"Makes Hegseth the clown look even more weak an feeble," agreed journalist Michelangelo Signorile.

"Like, 'I’ll do the right thing, but this was Obamas fault,'" noted finance expert Janelle Nelson.

"This is the right move, both for the loved ones of the victims and for the country," nodded Sen. John Curtis (R-UT), who had publicly urged the Pentagon not to broadcast the execution.

"Trump thinks differently than the online right about the optics and political ramifications of high-profile government violence, and he sometimes does a tactical retreat, including with the ICE surge in Minneapolis and now the execution livestream," observed The American Conservative's Andrew Day.

"Times have been tough in this Ohio town ever since the woke mob shut down the old Choco Taco factory," quipped the NY Times Pitchbot account. "So when Pete Hegseth promised to let them livestream an execution, they finally had something to cheer about. But then President Trump took it all way."

"Is it taco Thursday?" joked popular Bluesky user leftylady, referring to the acronym for "Trump always chickens out."

"Trump knew it would back…fire," cracked democracy advocate Mike Sacks.

"I bet if, instead of a livestream, Hegseth promoted it as pay-per-view it'd still be happening. Tactical error on his part," suggested writer Craig Calcaterra.

"I am happy Trump stopped the livestream execution," offered libertarian politician Chase Oliver. "I would have also fired Hegseth if it were me but I digress."