President Donald Trump has cancelled a plan to livestream the firing squad execution of former soldier Nidal Malik Hasan after widespread backlash from the public, politicians, military members, and faith leaders.

Trump made the announcement on Truth Social.

“I think streaming the execution for all to see might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan but, many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device,” he said. Studies have repeatedly found no evidence that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to crime.

“He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed,” Trump added. “That said, the execution may be viewed in person by the immediate families of the victims, if they so choose. They deserve to witness JUSTICE!”

On Thursday, shortly before Trump announced his decision, polling by The Washington Post, ABC News, and Ipsos found that the idea of livestreaming an execution is extremely unpopular among the public. According to the poll, 80 percent of Americans say they oppose it, while only 18 percent said they are in support. The idea is even overwhelmingly unpopular among the respondents who said they overall support the firing squad execution of Hasan, with 69 percent opposition to and 30 percent approval of the livestream among that group.

The only group that saw majority support of the livestream was among MAGA Republican men, among whom 57 percent backed the idea.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who often speaks of violence as a virtue, initially announced the livestream last week during an interview with far right commentator Jack Posobiec.

“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it. That it’s public. Because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth said.

But the idea was faced with immediate opposition, and in recent days, Trump had reportedly been gathering opinions from allies as to whether he should make the killing publicly watchable.

After Hegseth’s announcement, both Democrats and Republicans in Congress condemned the livestream idea. Vice President J.D. Vance, perhaps seeing the backlash, said that he would not personally watch it. The military’s archbishop put out a statement disapproving of the idea, saying that it would harm the reputation of the U.S. military.

Many other religious leaders condemned the idea. Pope Leo put out a statement, meanwhile, calling for the abolition of the death penalty altogether.

“The death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,” said the pope. “The common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment: effective systems of detention have been developed that protect citizens while at the same time do not completely deprive those who are guilty of the possibility of redemption.”

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) introduced a bill on Thursday that seeks to ban the public broadcasting of any military executions.

The Trump administration has reveled in imagery of state-perpetrated violence. Pentagon officials have repeatedly published footage of its deadly strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, which have been likened to snuff films. His administration has gone produced propaganda videos with video game footage spliced between clips of alleged war crimes, making light of killing.

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