Pete Hegseth’s Crusade
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“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.”
– Sinclair Lewis
Sinclair Lewis would have recognized Pete Hegseth immediately—a Christian nationalist whose religious beliefs, tattoos, and now his policies let everyone know he’s on a crusade to do no good. And what more perfect position from which to crusade than secretary of war. This is a man who says: “There would be no Europe and no America” if not for the Crusades—a gross distortion of history that nevertheless shapes his view of the military and US national security.
The US military has become too soft, Hegseth says. It is infested with woke culture and needs to restore a “warrior ethos.” Liberal generals have been recruiting, retaining, and promoting all the wrong people. They need to be rooted out. He has fired or forced out several senior officers, most recently the army chief of staff, and he has blocked promotions of women and Black generals. On the other hand, Hegseth has pardoned soldiers who have been convicted of violating the laws of war. Military justice is wrongheaded when it jails soldiers who are heroes, he has said.
Hegseth and the Press
Like his commander-in-chief, Hegseth despises an inquiring press that raises uncomfortable questions about his policies and tends to support liberal military leaders. The press has been under attack at the Pentagon virtually from the moment he took office. As Michael Wilner and Ana Ceballos have written in the Los Angeles Times, reporters had to sign a 21-page agreement warning them “against ‘soliciting’ information, including unclassified material, without the Pentagon’s official authorization, characterizing individuals who do so as a ‘security risk.’” The policy would have forced journalists and media organizations to refrain from publishing any material that is not approved by the military — a clear violation of First Amendment protections to free speech. Nearly every media outlet joined in refusing to sign the agreement, though a few far-right journalists did sign.
Pentagon’s restrictions on press coverage were ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge on March 20, in a case brought by the Times and one of its reporters. The Times argued that the Pentagon’s new rules violated the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause, as well as the “founding principle that the nation’s security depends upon a free press.” Judge Paul Friedman agreed. He ruled that the Iran war made it “more important than ever that the public have access to information from a variety of perspectives about what its govt is doing.” He was incredulous at the justice department’s argument that journalists don’t have First Amendment protections when they solicit the “disclosure of unauthorized information.” “Why not?” the judge asked. Journalists may ask questions, officials may refuse to answer. End of story? Not quite; days later, the Pentagon ordered that journalists be hosted in an annex to the building, not inside it as has been customary.
God is On Our Side
First Amendment rights are equally under attack from Hegseth’s embrace of an explicitly Christian nationalist perspective, most recently with a speech asking support for US troops fighting in Iran. He urged people to pray “Every day, on bended knee, with your family, in your schools, in your churches,” he said, “in the name of Jesus Christ.” Hegseth truly believes the armed forces have a Christian mission endorsed by God—which includes bombing a Muslim nation back to the stone age—precisely Trump’s language in his April 1 address. As Hegseth has said, “We negotiate by bombing.” This truly un-Christian man has a visceral love of violence. Hegseth has framed the boat attacks, which have killed at least 157 people, as part of a broader war to defend Christian nations from the forces of godless “narco communism” and tyranny.
The New York Times adds to Hegseth’s religious brief: “He prayed to “King Jesus” in the White House at a February dinner for governors. Speaking to a group of largely evangelical broadcasters, he described the United States as a nation founded on Christian principles. “There’s a direct through line from the Old and New Testament Christian gospels to the development of Western civilization and the United States of America,” he told them. Hegseth has invited a Christian nationalist mentor to lecture and lead prayers at the Pentagon, in gross violation of separation of church and state principles.
“Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace!” Pope Leo said in his Easter message. “Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them!” But Pete Hegseth isn’t listening.
Non-Christians in the military and chaplains who serve all soldiers are growing restless with Hegseth/s crusade. But his critics in the military fear retribution. “A senior Army civilian who has worked in the Pentagon for decades said people who work there are afraid to talk to one another or their superiors about concerns over Hegseth’s actions,” the New York Times reports. “Retired officers are speaking for them.”
The Times cites two: Retired Army Colonel Larry Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff to Colin Powell, said Hegseth violates “everything that transpired before it.” Retired Army Major General Randy Manner, who was second-in-command at the National Guard from 2011 to 2012, said he has talked with “dozens and dozens” of active-duty chaplains in recent weeks who say those who don’t identify with Hegseth “are being marginalized. They feel they can’t voice their concerns to their own superiors and feel their work as the primary advocate for troops’ spiritual, mental and moral health is being threatened.”
Invoking God and country in American interventions abroad is nothing new. But Pete Hegseth has taken that message a step farther by intertwining his religion with the nation’s military establishment. He should be next in line to be dismissed from the cabinet.
