MRFF to SECDEF Nominee Pete Hegseth: “I am Redeemed by My Lord and Savior” Did Not Answer Any of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Questions

Tuesday Evening, January 14, 2025

MRFF TO SECDEF NOMINEE PETE HEGSETH:

“I AM REDEEMED BY MY LORD AND SAVIOR”

DID NOT ANSWER ANY OF THE SENATE

ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE’S QUESTIONS

In his Senate confirmation hearing today, Christian nationalist

zealot Pete Hegseth, the former and unfortunately returning president’s utterly unqualified nominee for Secretary of Defense, dismissed his adultery and other bad behavior by telling

the Senate Armed Services Committee members:

“I have failed in things in my life and thankfully

I am redeemed by my lord and savior.”

Yes, Hegseth pulled out the good old fundamentalist Christian

‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card, a tactic successfully used by many a televangelist and megachurch pastor caught with their pants down —

just tell them that you’ve repented and Jesus has

forgiven you and all will be forgotten!

But Pete Hegseth is not a televangelist or megachurch pastor.

He is the nominee for Secretary of Defense — a nominee

whose behavior should absolutely and immediately

disqualify him, no matter what Jesus says.

Screenshot from CSPAN video of Hegseth at confirmation hearing

Pete Hegseth at his Senate confirmation hearing, dressed in

his best bright blue suit and red tie Donald Trump costume

A few of MRFF’s takeaways from the hearing

Not surprisingly, two issues that dominated the hearing were Hegseth's treatment of and attitude towards women, from his many statements that women should not serve in the military, particularly in combat roles, to his own adultery and accusations of sexual misconduct, and the many reports of Hegseth's excessive drinking and drunkenness at work, every one of which Hegseth had the same two-word response for – “anonymous smears” – even after Sen. Mark Kelly, who read off a long list of Hegseth's drunken indiscretions, pointed out that many of the reports were not anonymous.

Unfortunately, Hegseth's Christian nationalist extremism took a backseat to his misogyny, adultery, and drunkenness, with his religion only being brought up a handful of times, not by the Democrats on the committee but by Hegseth's fellow Christian nationalists who applaud his Christian nationalism, such as Republican Senator Kevin Cramer, who said (emphasis added):

“First, I want to say thank you for your strong proclamation, unapologetic proclamation, of faith in Jesus Christ. I listened to your opening statement and thought, wow, this is a guy who in today's culture is willing to stand up and say the first thing is first, faith in Jesus Christ. I was reminded of what Christ said in Matthew, ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and these things shall be added unto you.’ You are gonna have a great future as our secretary and I look forward to that day happening.”

Sen. Kramer was referring to Hegseth's opening statement, in which Hegseth said of himself and his third and current wife, who he cheated on his second wife with and had a kid with while still married to his second wife:

“As Jenny and I pray together every morning, all glory, regardless of the outcome, belongs to our lord and savior, Jesus Christ. His grace and mercy abounds each day. May his will be done.”

Maybe someone should clue pious Pete in that it's Donald Trump whose will is going to be done for the next four years, not Jesus Christ.

VETERAN JOURNALIST JONATHAN LARSEN

QUOTES MRFF’S MIKEY WEINSTEIN

ON HEGSETH’S NOMINATION

Jesus Is Invisible…in the Jack Smith Report

Both the special counsel and Senate Democrats

are turning the other cheek to theocracy

By: Jonathan Larsen

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Excerpt:

At around 10 last night … I asked Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) President and Founder Mikey Weinstein about the prospect of Democratic senators ignoring Hegseth’s Christian extremism. (Most of MRFF clients, by the way, are Christian soldiers and sailors objecting to superiors forcing Christianity on them.)

Weinstein said, with an uncharacteristic and chilling lack of swear words:

“Failure to specifically confront the miserable wretch Donald Trump’s equally miserable wretch of a Defense Department secretary nominee about his complete embrace of despicably unconstitutional fundamentalist Christian nationalism extremism is tantamount to asking Mrs. Lincoln how she liked the play other than the assassination.”

Jonathan Larsen has worked at CNN, MSNBC, and TYT. He created Up with

Chris Hayes, helped launch Anderson Cooper 360, was a senior producer on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and was managing editor/executive producer at TYT. His original reporting has been cited by members

of Congress resisting Christian nationalism.

Click to read on Substack

Previous MRFF coverage of Christian nationalist

Pete Hegseth’s nomination to be Secretary of Defense

MRFF OP-ED ON

DAILY KOS

No, SECDEF pick Pete Hegseth,

Donald Trump is no George Washington

By: MRFF Senior Research Director Chris Rodda

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

To say that Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense, has a serious man crush on his potential future boss would be a gross understatement. The Fox News host poised to lead the most lethal military in the history of the world seems to see this former reality show host turned political cult leader as a superhero akin to one of the ridiculous NFT digital trading card images of the former and unfortunately future president.

While many journalists have been turning to Hegseth’s most recent book, The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free — how’s that for a stunning sexist title? — I decided to take a look at his previous book, American Crusade: Our Fight to Stay Free, which he says was written to help Trump get elected in 2020.

There is quite a lot to unpack in this American Crusade book, which is going to take several posts to do, but let’s start with what Hegseth means by an American crusade. This is what he says:

“This book is entitled AMERICAN CRUSADE for a reason—because I believe our moment requires a holy war for the righteous cause of human freedom.”

Yes, a “holy war,” waged against “bad” Americans who don’t accept and follow the Bible (emphasis added):

“All humans, boiled down to their basic chemistry, are essentially the same. What separates the good from the bad are the acceptance and practice of core biblical realities and ethics.”

Throughout the book, Hegseth copiously uses Christian dominionist language, writing much about how Christians must conquer the “spheres of influence,” (a.k.a. the seven mountains of culture in the “Seven Mountains Mandate”), spending quite a bit of time on the education “mountain,” lamenting that our nation’s schools aren’t Christian:

“Faith used to be indispensable to our nation’s education system; today it is invisible, confined to student groups that rarely get support from universities. The result: our nation’s future citizens, voters, and leaders fall for the pathetically stupid arguments of secularists who believe that the only wall worth building is Jefferson’s Wall of Separation. Let me say again, the war to erase faith from America is not accidental; it is intentional. Because the Christian faith—and Judeo-Christian values—are the foundation of Americanism.”

“Our challenge in America today—as during all of human history—is the transfer of timeless wisdom to the next generation. How can we teach the next generation of American citizens about our founding and biblical heritage in rudderless and godless schools?”

He also adds a dash of “Quiverfull” ideology, calling on good Christian families to “forge kids,” lots of Christian kids:

“As I laid out in my first book, IN THE ARENA, having good leaders is important, but having good citizens is more important—citizens who are willing to work for a living, fight when necessary, raise large, patriotic families, and believe in something greater than themselves. The ingredients are easy—work, fight, forge kids, and have faith …”

He also gets in this dig at both liberals who choose not to “forge” a small army of children, combining that with his Christian fundamentalist opinion that non-fundamentalist Christian churches are not Christian enough and their members not “real” Christians:

“Self-absorbed citizens also see little use for children beyond one child—who always wears a helmet, carries a bottle of Purel, and never eats gluten! Faith and purpose are stripped out of all institutions, including the church itself, where most denominations pick and choose which religious maxims to ignore.”

Well, the DoD has a school system, serving tens of thousands of military children. Over the years, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has had a number of cases in which Christianity was being pushed in DoD schools as the preferred religion and we’ve been able to successfully stop this unconstitutional preying on children. But what will happen when we have a Secretary of Defense who is a hyper-zealous advocate for teaching religion (the Christian religion, of course) in schools?

And, what of his belief that non-fundamentalist Christians are not “real” Christians?

In MRFF’s two-decades of operation, we have had literally hundreds of cases that boiled down to a fundamentalist Christian commander or NCO pushing their fundamentalist brand of Christianity on service members who are Christians, but not the “right kind” of Christians. This is why 95% of MRFF’s clients are Christians — mainline Protestants and Catholics who aren’t “Christian enough” for their fundamentalist Christian superiors. And, again, MRFF has had success after success in stopping these abuses of power. But what will happen when we have a Secretary of Defense who believes, like these fundamentalist commanders, that theirs is the only real Christianity and that non-fundamentalist Christians and “the empty gospel they preach,” as he puts it, are un-American?

And what about the non-Christians in our military, particularly the “Islamists,” as Hegseth calls all Muslims?

Hegseth, who compares the Trump “miracle” to both the Crusades and the American Revolution, he is careful to stick in a few disclaimers, like saying he’s “not romanticizing the crusades” — a bit hard to belive coming from a man who has an enormous crusader cross tattooed over half of his chest and the Crusader rallying cry, “Deus vult,” tattooed on the length of his upper arm.

Well, here is a sampling of Hegseth’s “not romanticizing the crusades” (emphasis added):

“One thousand years ago, after years of ceding land to conquering Muslim hordes, the pope ordered military action to save Europe. ‘Deus vult’ (‘God wills it’) was the rallying cry of Christian knights as they marched to Jerusalem. Two hundred and fifty years ago, as King George III exercised more power over the colonists in North America, they rebelled. ‘Give me liberty or give me death!’ they exclaimed. America was born and then battle tested.

“The most important rallying cry of our era—‘Make America Great Again’—catalyzed a political miracle of similar proportion and consequence so shocking that it still confounds those who proclaimed it. Like crusaders and patriots past, Donald Trump’s red hat rebellion demonstrates that unapologetically going on offense is the only tenable strategy for the defense of our republic. Surrounded by the Left, with the odds stacked against us, only a crusade will do.”

“The pope, the Catholic Church, and European Christians chose to fight—and the crusades were born. Pope Urban II urged the faithful to fight the Muslims with his famous battle cry on their lips: ‘Deus vult!,’ or ‘God wills it!’ The moment required followers of Christ to take up the sword in defense of their faith, their families, and their freedom. After centuries of fighting, the tide turned. Christianity in Europe was saved, Jerusalem was liberated, and Christians did not seek further war with Muslims.”

“One thousand years later, we don’t want to fight, but we must. We need an American Crusade. Christians—alongside our Jewish friends and freedom-loving people everywhere—need to stand up for our faith, defend our freedom, and defeat leftism in all its forms, including Islamism.”

But the pope now, according to Hegseth, is a leftist and not a real Christian (emphasis added):

“But even after being halted by the crusades, Muslims never stopped fighting and expanding, both violently and nonviolently. Their jihad continued and expanded. Meanwhile, the European Church dropped its sword. As the continent became more secular, its resolve to defend itself also vanished. Today, the home of the crusades no longer has a vibrant Church or a fearsome army. Europe was twice bailed out by America in world wars, and the pope today leads interfaith services.”

“We have Donald Trump right now, but should he lose in 2020, we can’t call the pope to organize the faithful—because rather than leading Crusader armies as he used to, the pope is now a leftist who leads climate change rallies.”

So, again, how might Hegseth’s clear disdain for Muslims affect the military if he is confirmed as Secretary of Defense?

Let’s look at another quote from his book:

“Secularists today are conducting a seek-and-destroy mission against any institution that puts more faith in God than in government. This is at the direction of Karl Marx, who believed that the total destruction of all religion was necessary to achieve a proper communist society. But what is so bizarre is that the secularists today appropriate Islam for their cause, and radical Muslims such as Somali Omar revel in it. Put a cross on the House floor, and there would be a flurry of lawsuits asserting the establishment of religion. Somali Omar in the Muslim hijab, though? It’s considered freedom of expression and female empowerment. The House of Representatives has literally changed the rules of the House floor for her.”

A few years ago, MRFF had a widely-covered case of a female Muslim NCO who was ordered to remove her hijab by her command sergeant major, physically grabbing her and humiliating and denigrating her in public for her religious beliefs. Now, we’re looking at having a Secretary of Defense who would see nothing wrong with this command sergeant major’s actions, as is evident from his mocking of Congresswoman Omar’s wearing a hijab.

Hegseth writes of his American crusade (emphasis added):

“I’m not asking you to paint your shield with a crimson cross, but I am asking you to paint your shield with the American flag, understanding fully what that flag stands for. Our American Crusade is not about literal swords, and our fight is not with guns. Yet. Until our crusader in chief, Donald Trump, showed up, our leaders were not seriously confronting the leftist invasion. Yes, voting is a weapon, but it’s not enough. We cannot outsource or delegate our crusade. Arm yourself—metaphorically, intellectually, and physically. This is, by the way, why the Second Amendment exists. Let me repeat—slowly—for the benefit of leftist readers: I am not advocating any sort of violence in this book. The American Crusade is a war against destructive ideas. We are not calling for violence. I am saying that our founders would have compelled you to be prepared, because the clash is ongoing and only going to get nastier.”

Right, he’s not calling for violence, all you stupid “leftists.” He’s just telling his readers to arm themselves “metaphorically, intellectually, and physically,” telling them this is “why the Second Amendment exists,” and that their fight is not with guns — “Yet.”

And, again claiming that he is not calling for violence, while telling his readers to prepare for violence, he writes:

“If they turn into King George III, find me a town square in Lexington or a bridge in Concord to stand on. I believe millions of Americans—properly prepared and organized—would do the same. Our great flag means nothing without freedom. Better to go our separate ways—a new freedom-loving country and all—than be complicit in the destruction of America. This is not a call to violence; not at all. And it’s not what anybody wants. It is simply a recognition that freedom-loving Americans will not stand idly by and watch our blessed freedoms be trampled.”

Yep, he’s just gonna stand there on a bridge, “properly prepared and organized,” to do nothing because, after all, he’s not calling for violence or anything like that.

And, no surprise, Hegseth has a problem with trans people:

“As with abortion, the leftist goal is to rip away traditional thinking in polite society, replacing God with government and replacing binary sex with multiple-choice gender. To leftists, binary gender—‘male and female He created them’—is not only a thing of the past, it’s homophobic,”

And “isms” — all “isms” must be defeated in Hegseth’s crusade (emphasis added):

“Underneath our noses, and at almost light speed, the Left has captured nearly every quarter of our culture—of public schools, higher education, mass media, social media, Hollywood, corporate culture, the Pentagon, and even many of our churches. Save for Americanism—which is the core of our crusade—every “ism” you can think of has been on its agenda: globalism, feminism, socialism, Islamism, elitism, secularism, multiculturalism, environmentalism, and so on.”

With a comparison to George Washington, Hegseth lists all the things that would happen in a second Trump administration:

“The road map is not entirely clear, but as history shows us, victory is possible. George Washington faced many dark days and hopeless nights while leading a ragtag army of regulars against the greatest army in the world. But it was faith, toughness, purposefulness, and perseverance that won the day. If we do that—if we truly crusade—here is a glimpse of what winning will look like …”

Here are a few of the things listed in Hegseth’s “glimpse of what winning will look like” (emphasis added):

“Our boys will become strong, patriotic men, and our girls will become strong, patriotic women. Their differences will be elevated, not blurred. Genderism, defeated.

“God will be revered and embraced, returning His blessing to America. Secularism, defeated.

“Overseas Islamism will be crushed (as ISIS was), and at home Islam will be forced to choose Americanism or go somewhere else. Islamism, defeated.

“Abortion will finally and forever be illegal and our government schools either abandoned or fully transformed. Prayer will be accepted in the public square.”

There is much, much more to get to in Hegseth’s blueprint for his self-described “holy war,” which I will do in subsequent posts, but for now I’ll leave you with these words from potential head of the Department of Defense, a position from which he will wield power to advance the cause of Christian nationalism in our military: