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The veteran picked to lead the Defense Department has praised the brutal religious military campaigns of the past and has called for a Christian approach to governing.
- Dec. 5, 2024, 10:58 a.m. ET
Before Donald J. Trump picked him to lead the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth spoke often about a medieval military campaign that he saw as a model for today: the Crusades, in which Christian warriors from Western Europe embarked on ruthless missions to wrest control of Jerusalem and other areas under Muslim rule.
As he embraced a combative brand of Christianity in recent years, he wrote that people who enjoy the benefits of Western civilization should “thank a Crusader.” On his arm, he has a tattoo with the words “Deus Vult,” which he has described as a “battle cry” of the Crusades.
“Voting is a weapon, but it’s not enough,” he wrote in a book, “American Crusade,” published in May 2020. “We don’t want to fight, but, like our fellow Christians one thousand years ago, we must.”
Mr. Trump has so far stuck by Mr. Hegseth as his nominee for secretary of defense despite a growing series of disclosures about his past, including allegations of sexual impropriety, alcohol abuse and financial mismanagement. Mr. Hegseth has vigorously denied the allegations, calling them an attempt to disrupt Mr. Trump’s agenda.
The issue of Mr. Hegseth’s religious expressions has come up in the past. He has said he was barred from participating in the military security detail for President Biden’s inauguration in 2021 because of a tattoo on his chest depicting a Jerusalem Cross, a religious emblem that was also a symbol used by crusaders. (The Associated Press and others reported that it was the “Deus Vult” tattoo, which has been used by white supremacists, that prompted a fellow service member to flag Mr. Hegseth as a potential “insider threat.”)
Mr. Hegseth’s interest in the Crusades — campaigns that featured so many atrocities that many Christian leaders today view them as a shameful stain on the religion’s history — is linked both to his Christian beliefs and worldview. In his books, he says that if the United States cannot mount a successful defense against Islamist and leftist ideology, the nation will be destroyed and “human freedom will be finished.”
