Trump's crusader-in-chief: How christian-nationalist beliefs drive Pete Hegseth

“[Pete Hegseth] believes that not only is the military at his disposal to use for his purposes but it’s there to fulfil God’s agenda for the world,” said Doug Pagitt, a pastor at the progressive Christian group Vote Common Good. Subscribe to Guardian News on YouTube ► youtube.com
Trump’s secretary of defence (or secretary of war, as Trump tries to call him) has been in the spotlight since the launch of attacks on Iran in March. Jack Reed, a Democratic senator from Rhode Island, opened the Senate armed services committee on Thursday by accusing Hegseth of “dangerously exaggerating” his statements about a US victory in Iran. But it’s also been Hegseth’s persistent framing of the war, which is currently under a tenuous ceasefire, as divinely sanctioned that has drawn attention, says Julia Wong, a Guardian US senior reporter. After repeatedly invoking “God’s almighty providence”, Hegseth’s “distinct combination of piety and bloodlust” was most prominently on display at the 25 March worship service at the Pentagon, when he prayed for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy”. The prayer was so shocking that it appears to have provoked a direct rebuke from Pope Leo, who preached on Palm Sunday that God ignores the prayers of those whose “hands are full of blood” from making war. What all of this points to, Wong reports, is how militant Christian beliefs are driving one of the most powerful men in the US. #petehegseth #crusaderinchief #christiannationalism #trump #usa #politics