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Article excerpts (emphasis added):
“Trump and Hegseth are unconstitutionally foregoing military doctrine as they transform the world’s most powerful secular force into a white Christian nationalist militia. In doing so, they are destroying our military’s legitimacy both domestically and abroad. As a matter of national security, they must be stopped.
“Their attempt to radicalize the military is hardly theoretical; Hegseth has left more than enough clues that what he wants is a Crusade. After all, he titled his own book American Crusade. In the book, Hegseth explicitly rejects the separation of church and state as ‘leftist folklore.’ His own tattoos—the Jerusalem Cross and the phrase ‘Deus Vult’ (God Wills It)—are historic rallying cries for the Crusades.
“Now, the Secretary of War is working to institutionalize this theology with terrifying speed. He is already using his platform to frame the conflict in Iran as ‘Jesus versus Muhammad,’ according to Michael Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF). In fact, the MRFF has logged hundreds of complaints by non-commissioned officers reporting that leadership is telling them the war is ‘part of God’s divine plan” and that the President was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon.’”
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