President-elect Donald Trump has named Pete Hegseth who is labeled a white supremacist as defence secretary
US President-elect Donald Trump has appointed Pete Hegseth, a host at Fox News, author, and military veteran, as his selection for the position of Secretary of Defense. Hegseth, 44, who has completed service in Afghanistan and Iraq, will assume responsibility for overseeing the world’s most formidable military in his initial political capacity.
In his announcement made on Tuesday, Trump characterized Hegseth as “tough, smart, and a true believer in America First.”
Hegseth has attracted considerable attention due to various controversies surrounding allegations of his association with white supremacy. His tattoos, which have been described by some as resembling a swastika and indicative of white supremacist affiliations, have further fueled these claims. Consequently, he was disinvited by the Biden Administration.
“I was deemed an extremist because of a tattoo ― by my National Guard unit in Washington, DC,” Hegseth said on “The Shawn Ryan Show” podcast a few months ago. “And my orders were revoked to guard the Biden inauguration. Jerusalem cross tattoo, it’s just a Christian symbol … [that] is what got me disinvited.”
Pete Hegseth, told Jewish group that “anyone who wants to talk about dual loyalty is dead wrong.” “Zionism and Americanism” are intertwined as “the front lines of Western civilization and freedom in our world today,” Hegseth insists.
What is the tattoo? A symbol of Christianity — the tattoo is an image of the Jerusalem cross with four smaller crosses in the corners. Another tattoo on his biceps reads ‘deus vult’ (God wills it). This is also not above controversy as it was a battle cry to apparently “take back the Holy Land and to slaughter Muslims”.
In 1095, Pope Urban II gave a speech calling on Christians in Europe to kill Muslims to reclaim the Holy Land, and ended with the cry “Deus vult!”
Who is Pete Hegseth?
According to the BBC, he was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. An Ivy League alumnus, he has recently emerged as a conservative commentator. He resides in Tennessee with his wife and their seven children.
He has hosted programs on Fox News, utilizing his platform to draw attention to issues concerning military personnel and veterans. Tuesday marked his final day at Fox.
Reports from U.S. media indicate that he successfully advocated for a pardon from President Trump during the latter’s first term for servicemen accused of war crimes.
In his statement announcing Hegseth as his selection for defense secretary on Tuesday, Trump emphasized the former soldier’s education at Princeton and Harvard universities, as well as his military experience in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – our military will be great again, and America will never back down,” Trump wrote in a post.
The president-elect also drew attention to Hegseth’s work as a published author. He said the book The War on Warrior “reveals the leftwing betrayal of our warriors, and how we must return our military to meritocracy, lethality, accountability, and excellence”.
What has he previously said about the military?
Hegseth has consistently voiced his opposition to what he terms “woke” policies prevalent in the United States military and its leadership.
“The dumbest phrase on planet earth in the military is our diversity is our strength,” Hegseth said on a podcast this month.
One of his responsibilities as Secretary of Defense may involve taking action on President Trump’s campaign commitments to remove U.S. generals whom he has accused of advancing progressive policies within the military.
Before his selection by Trump, Hegseth was asked on the same podcast about what changes he would make in the military. He referred to “first of all” firing the US’ top military officer, Gen Charles “CQ” Brown Jr, saying people involved in diversity, equality or inclusion policies had “got to go”.
“Either you’re in for war fighting and that’s it, that’s the only litmus test we care about,” Hegseth told the Shawn Ryan Show, in an episode released last week.
Gen Brown is a former fighter pilot with command experience in the Pacific and Middle East, and was appointed into the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff role by President Joe Biden last year.
On the same podcast, Hegseth also said “whatever” combat standards were in 1995, “let’s just make those the standards”.