Metaphoric use of 'decapitation' referring to an organization or state is normal and idiomatic in American English, especially if you spend a lot of time talking to people with military backgrounds. There's plenty of other stuff going on right now that's actually worth criticism.
Decimate is the one that gets me. That word does not mean what he thinks it means
Decimate is like Checkmate but even BIGLY.
A market for a usage beat reporter actually exists?