The nomination of Pete Hegseth for defense secretary reveals multiple layers of extremist signaling — from overt actions and affiliations to coded language and historical echoes. Let’s examine the clear hate group evidence, loudly signaling a national security threat, starting with the most direct concerns.
Immediate concrete evidence of concern
CNN says the announcement about the infamously divisive and toxic Army National Guard veteran signals “support for troops… convicted of war crimes”.
Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary Pete Hegseth has railed against women in combat, voiced support for troops accused and in some instances, convicted of war crimes, and advocated for the firing of the military’s most senior officers accused of supporting so-called woke policies.
Hegseth has been flagged basically everywhere lately for having “white crusader” tattoos because he apparently is unapologetic about branding himself as someone who hates others (and wants to kill them) based on race and religion.
Hegseth’s tattoos, political views and religious affiliation and background are consistent with an extreme strain of Christian nationalism, according to Matthew Taylor, a scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, & Jewish Studies. Specifically, he appears to belong to a fringe denomination known as Reformed Reconstructionism, which believes in applying biblical Christian law to society, exclusively male leadership, and actively preparing the world for the prophesied return of Jesus. The denomination has an affinity for the Crusades, the military campaign waged during the Middle Ages by European Christians to rid Muslims from the Holy Land.
To put it plainly, extremist hate group memes by 2017 made it abundantly clear that a Jerusalem Cross and the phrase “Deus Vult” symbolized their brand of white nationalist violence.
Hegseth, only after hearing the prominent news about the rise of extremism, had it tattooed prominently on his chest and bicep. Notably, Hegseth claimed Norwegian descent while adorning his body around 2021 with domestic terror symbolism of the 2011 Norway tragedy.
The Independent says his nomination announcement signals a patronage system choosing the “least qualified nominee… most overtly political”.
Hegseths’s nomination is “the most hilariously predictably stupid thing” that Trump could do, according to former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger, a former lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard. Hegseth “is a highly effective and ferocious media, culture and political warrior for MAGA. And beyond loyal to and trusted by Trump,” according to Paul Rieckhoff, an Army veteran of the Iraq War and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. He is “undoubtedly the least qualified nominee for [defense secretary] in American history. And the most overtly political,” Rieckhoff said. “Brace yourself, America.” Hegseth graduated from Princeton University in 2003 and received his master’s degree in public policy at Harvard University.
This pattern of concerning behavior extends beyond ideology. Hegseth accidentally threw an axe that hit someone in West Point, and then hunched over and walked away as if to avoid responsibility for rash thoughtless acts.
Some officials expressed concern that Hegseth might come into the building with a hatchet aimed at axing programs without getting a lay of the land first.
I don’t know who would really mix up a hatchet and an axe, but generally it sounds like they’re on the right path about this guy’s lack of thoughtfulness.
Pete Hegseth denies existence of germs, saying: “I can’t see them, therefore they’re not real.”
Uncoordinated, selfish, and dangerous. His actions demonstrated a kind of attention-seeking person unaccountable and unreliable, who disgraces himself and those around him.
Military resignation context
Particularly telling is how Hegseth proudly says he decided to back down from the military because they allegedly called him on white supremacist affiliations. He literally quit after his “political and religious views” were flagged by the very reasonable standards prohibiting hate groups in the military.
The feeling was mutual – I didn’t want this Army anymore either.
That’s what he wrote in his book, as if to foreshadow a nomination to lead the thing he doesn’t want anymore. He wrote that he is a man who backed down.
I can’t emphasize this enough, that he says he is someone who backs down, and then he’s nominated to be someone exact opposite to who he really is. Quitter won’t quit? Dog-whistler.
The military resignation narrative is particularly telling — claiming to leave due to “political and religious views” being challenged, only to later seek top leadership. It suggests an attempt to frame enforcement of anti-extremism policies as persecution. This fits a common pattern where extremist groups attempt to portray basic standards against discrimination as attacks on their rights.
These modern signaling techniques didn’t emerge in isolation – they draw from a long history of military segregation and white supremacist infiltration of American institutions. The parallels between current rhetoric and historical patterns are particularly striking when examining military leadership’s role in enforcing racial hierarchies.
While his individual actions paint a damning picture, understanding their full significance requires examining the environment that shaped them. The regional context of Hegseth’s upbringing provides crucial insights into how such extremist viewpoints develop and persist.
To examine how these extremist views develop and persist in a family that immigrated to America, let’s scratch the surface of where Hegseth was raised – Forest Lake, Minnesota. This region has a deeply troubling history of institutional racism and white supremacy that continues to this day. The pattern of racial violence, discrimination, and attempts to dismantle protective institutions provides crucial context for understanding current signals and intentions:
- ‘I hate to say this, but I was bullied for my race‘
- Forest Lake school district apologizes for 2016 blackface incident
- In Lake Forest and America, lighter is still better
- North Lakes Academy in Forest Lake, hired a coach accused of statutory rape of a 16-year-old girl
- Forest Lake Republican council members campaigned to dissolve their entire 25-officer department claiming it would save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year
- …Police Chief Mike Tusken was an adult when he learned his family’s shameful connection to the most racist chapter in his city’s history. Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Isaac McGhie were lynched by a mob on June 15, 1920 without any police protection, because Irene Tusken lied about being raped.
- [Forest Lake news] articles repeat almost every anti-Semitic canard, from the allegation that Jews run Hollywood to the claim that Jews were behind communism.
This background of institutional racism and attempts to dismantle protective structures helps explain the coded language used in Hegseth’s nomination announcement. To those familiar with white supremacist messaging patterns, the carefully chosen words and phrases carry clear significance.
Encoded hate language deciphered
Against this backdrop, Trump’s announcement takes on even deeper significance, notably publicly dog-whistling Hegseth’s strong “America First” association:
“Pete is…a true believer in America First,” Trump said in a statement. “With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down.” […] Hegseth has said he left the military in 2021 after being sidelined for his political and religious views by an Army that didn’t want him anymore.
As a long-time expert of information warfare and disinformation tactics, let me break down what’s going on with these capitalized phrases, which are setup to be recognized slogans within certain groups. Trump has combined militaristic themes with nationalist rhetoric, using “America” twice to emphasize nationalism. The phrasing “at the helm” evokes authoritarian leadership
- “America’s enemies are on notice” echoes “enemies within” rhetoric historically used against minorities. It creates a threatening stance and implies crimes like President “America First” Wilson’s use of federal troops to kill black workers in 1919 Arkansas. The “on notice” suggests similar imminent escalation into violent confrontation without hesitation or negotiation.
- “Military will be Great Again” is using the classic white nationalist phrase, where unusual capitalization of “Great” signals it as the known slogan. It links military power with ethnic/racial dominance, common in supremacist ideology.
- “Never Back Down” is capitalized as a known slogan because it shouts out race-based dominance with resistance against perceived threats from non-whites, common in militant white nationalist rhetoric.
The phrase “true believer” (often capitalized as a signal) has significant meaning in context of white supremacist groups:
- Historical usage: Implies exclusive membership in an “enlightened” in-group. Used to distinguish “real” members from “pretenders”. Suggests possession of special knowledge others don’t have (e.g. Invisible order and “Know nothings”)
- Messaging function: Creates artificial scarcity/exclusivity. Reinforces group identity and loyalty. Implies others are “fake” or “traitors”. Often paired with phrases like “patriots” or “real Americans”
- Operational purpose: Used to test loyalty/commitment. Creates pressure to prove one’s status as a “True Believer”. Helps identify fellow extremists while maintaining deniability. Often used in recruitment to make people feel special/chosen.
The “true believer” phrase thus is meant both as a recognition signal between members and a recruiting tool — it flatters potential recruits by suggesting they could be part of an elite, enlightened white nationalist group wearing costumes who “see truth” that others can’t.
Connecting to historical patterns
America is clearly going back in time, so this should be no surprise to anyone who studied Woodrow Wilson’s screening of “Birth of a Nation” in the Whitehouse followed by racist policies of removing all non-whites from government… leading to a “Red Summer” of deadly white-supremacist attacks across the country, and then the 1921 racist militant campaign to murder Blacks and burn Tusla to the ground.
Historical military context
The “crusader” iconography and Reformed Reconstructionism connection is especially concerning given American historical context. This ideology advocating biblical law and male-only white leadership while glorifying the Crusades has clear parallels to the racist Christian nationalism that Wilson promoted into widespread domestic terrorism campaigns through his “America First” campaign and propaganda.
Wilson’s hatred for non-whites, which drove his propaganda office of WWI and framed military service, used overt expressions of racist “Crusades” just like the tattoos that Hegseth selected in 2021 to decorate himself with.
As Pershing infamously wrote in his day:
We must prevent the rise of any pronounced degree of intimacy between French officers and black officers. We may be courteous and amiable with the last but we cannot deal with them on the same plane as white American officers without deeply wounding the latter. We must not eat with them, must not shake hands with them, seem to talk to them or to meet with them outside the requirements of military service. We must not commend too highly these troops particularly in front of white Americans. Make a point of keeping the native cantonment from spoiling the Negro. White Americans become very incensed at any particular expression of intimacy between white women and black men.
Notably, this came from the “America First” President who demanded strict segregation that would block Blacks from any office, authority, or prosperity.
In August 1917, Wilson pressured General John Pershing to issue a directive to the French military warning against decorating Black Soldiers to too great an extent for fear of “spoiling the Negroes.” The French largely ignored this directive, valuing Black Soldiers…
Wilson’s propaganda of the “Christian crusader” symbolism should serve as stark reminder of how racism was historically pushed upon American military leadership — particularly the explicit instructions to maintain racial hierarchies and prevent integration. The current signals about “taking back” the military and putting “enemies on notice” echo those same segregationist and supremacist goals.
From concrete evidence like war crimes support and white crusader tattoos, to the toxic environment of Forest Lake that shaped his views, to his carefully coded language echoing historical white supremacist movements – all signs point to an alarming pattern. This nomination isn’t just about one unqualified individual; it represents an attempt to restore the kind of institutional racism that General Pershing once openly enforced. The parallels between Wilson’s “America First” campaign and today’s signals are impossible to ignore – both used crusader imagery, both targeted military integration, and both wrapped white supremacy in patriotic language. Those who understand this history recognize exactly what’s being signaled about the future of military leadership and racial hierarchies in America.
