Weekend Fox News host Pete Hegseth was already a highly controversial choice to be Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense. Hegseth and the Trump campaign have spent time recently pushing back against two simultaneous controversies. claims that Hegseth has “extremist” tattoos, as some critics have accused; vanity fair On Thursday, Hegseth was investigated by California police on previous sexual harassment allegations. Hegseth denied the allegations and no charges have been filed against him.
Hegseth is a military veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Recent media scrutiny has focused on his tattoos, one of which depicts the Jerusalem Cross, a Christian symbol first popularized during the Crusades, and the other “Deus Vult” (Latin for “Divine Providence”), meaning divine providence. It says “God wills it”). . This phrase, which was a slogan for Catholics during the First Crusade, has recently been memorized by white supremacists and adopted by the far right.
Hegseth confirmed in an interview with the podcaster in November that he was one of 12 National Guard members excluded from Joe Biden’s inauguration after being vetted by the FBI and the U.S. military, adding: “I was considered an extremist because of my National Guard tattoos. “There were troops in Washington, D.C., and orders to guard Biden’s inauguration were canceled.” Fellow National Guardsman DeRicko Gaither confirmed to CBS that Hegseth reported that he could be an “insider threat” due to his Deus Vult tattoo.
Another controversy is refreshing. Journalist Gabriel Sherman reported Thursday that Hegseth was investigated by Monterey Park police in 2017 for sexual assault. He has not been arrested or charged with a crime.
Trump campaign spokesman (and incoming Trump administration communications director) Stephen Cheng told Sherman in a statement that “Hegseth vehemently denies all of the accusations and no charges have been filed.” “We look forward to his confirmation as Secretary of Defense so he can begin his first job of making America safe and great again.”
At Vice presidential candidate JD Vance called the Associated Press’ coverage of the controversy “disgusting anti-Christian bigotry” and wrote, “They are attacking Pete Hegseth because he has a Christian motto tattooed on his arm.”
Hegseth agreed, reposting the tweet and writing, “Amen @JDVance. Anti-Christian bias is on full display in the media. They can target me. I don’t care. “But this type of targeting of Christians, conservatives, patriots, and everyday Americans will stop at DJT DoD from day one.”
Hegseth did not respond publicly. vanity fair‘s story about a sexual harassment investigation; Sherman reported that Trump’s lawyer and Trump’s new chief of staff, Suzy Wiles, spoke with him about the matter on Thursday.
On Fox News, Hegseth devoted his airtime to denouncing “woke” policies that he claims are harming military readiness. This is also the subject of a book he published in June. war with warriors. Hegseth said in a podcast appearance with Ben Shapiro that women should not be in combat roles, adding that “men are more capable in those positions.” (He also went a bit viral in 2019 for saying the following: fox and friends He joked: “I haven’t washed (his) hands in 10 years.” At least we joked, “You can’t see germs because they’re not real.”)
Hegseth also has deep ties to the so-called TheoBros, a group of ultra-conservative, ultra-online millennial Christian men who follow an Idaho pastor named Douglas Wilson. Some of Wilson’s followers believe that America should: mother jones‘Follow the laws of the Bible,’ writes Kiera Butler.
