David Brooks
Role at the time: Writer and PBS NewsHour political analyst
Statement summary
Brooks condemns Hegseth's plan to broadcast the execution. He argues that watching public executions dehumanizes spectators and reverses moral progress away from public displays of suffering.
“And so what Hegseth is doing is just -- is amoral beyond -- beyond reckoning.”
PBS's full transcript records a separate response from each commentator after Nawaz plays Hegseth's announcement. Both oppose public viewing. PBS gives the broadcast date but no precise time for their remarks.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
The case asks whether Pete Hegseth should livestream Nidal Hasan's execution; it concerns the broadcast proposal, not Hasan's conviction or capital punishment. Brooks calls what Hegseth is doing "amoral beyond -- beyond reckoning" and argues that watching public executions dehumanizes spectators. That opposes the broadcast, so we labeled it Condemned. The closest competing label is Mixed or conditional; it loses because he offers no support for the plan.