Thread by @TaylorMatthewD

Yesterday Trump announced he's nominating Pete Hegseth as his Secretary of Defense.

Hegseth's a prominent Fox News personality & veterans advocate, but he also has strong ties to the Christian far right that I've not seen fully exposed yet.

Here's a thread w/ receipts... 1/

1st, what's the Christian far right?

It's a coalition of different Christian social movts bound together by aggressive theologies & (often but not always) white supremacy.

This is the extreme, militant end of the spectrum of what is popularly called "Christian nationalism." 3/

Theologically & socially, there are at least 3 distinct, major strands of the Amer Christian far right today (w/ lots of smaller ones too):

1) Radical Traditionalist Catholic networks & influencers, Opus Dei, etc. -- This is the world of JD Vance. Not my area of expertise. 4/

2) Independent Charismatic celebrity, spiritual warfare, & apostolic networks (often simplistically labeled the NAR) -- This is my area of expertise & what my book is about.

These networks are known for charismatic (i.e., supernatural, ecstatic) practices & focus on revival. 5/

The 3rd major strand of the Christian far right is:

3) Reformed Reconstructionist networks of churches & leaders. This is the world of the so-called "theo bros", usually bearded, chauvinistic, Hyper-Calvinist, male influencers.

These are the circles Hegseth travels in. 6/

Here's an article I wrote earlier this year describing the origins of these two Protestant Christian supremacist movements (Independent Charismatic/NAR & Reformed Reconstructionist) & their agendas. 7/

religionnews.com/2024/04/04/the…

Reformed Reconstructionists tend to emphasize:

-Postmillennial eschatology (i.e., building the kingdom of God on earth)
-Theonomy (applying biblical law to every society)
-Alternative education (homeschooling or classical Xn academies)
-Exclusive male leadership & masculinity 8/

In this 2023 profile of Hegseth for a local TN Xn magazine, he describes:

-reading Doug Wilson (the godfather today of the Reformed Reconstructionist movement)
-sending his kids to a classical Christian academy
-finding "fortification of brotherhood" 9/

nashchristian.com/2023/12/pete-h…

Hegseth apparently attends Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship in TN led by Brooks Potteiger (pastor) & Joshua Haymes (pastoral intern).

This is CREC church, part of the denomination founded by Doug Wilson. 10/

pilgrimhill.church

Hegseth has been a guest on Haymes & Potteiger's podcast "Reformation Red Pill" (doesn't get much more far-right Reconstructionist than that), &, as recently as last month, he was promoting their podcast. 11/

podcastrepublic.net/podcast/172192…

Last yr, Hegseth also promoted an Advent devotional published by Haymes & Potteiger's Forge Press.



Forge Press says it "arms Christians w/ tools & weapons to build, defend, & expand the new Christendom." This is textbook Reconstructionist. 12/ facebook.com/PeteHegseth/po…

"Christendom" for Reformed Reconstructionists is the ideal Christian society, the phys. territory controlled & governed by conservative Christian morality & leaders.

This is why you often find Reconstructionists justifying the Crusades, the iconic "expansion" of Christendom. 13/

And, sure enough, Hegseth has 2 Crusader tattoos: a Jerusalem Cross, the symbol of the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem on his chest, & "Deus Vult" the Crusaders' theological cri de coeur ("God wills it") on his bicep.

"Deus Vult" means God mandated Crusaders' violence. 13/

These Crusader tattoos are part of Xn far-right iconography &, when Hegseth's Nat'l Guard unit was called up to serve in DC for Biden's inauguration, Hegseth + several other service members were told they couldn't serve b/c of their extremist tattoos. 14/

newsweek.com/pete-hegseth-w…

.@mmfa here has a good breakdown of Hegseth's 2020 book, literally titled "American Crusade."

He echoes many far-right talking points about the threat of Muslims to Western Civ, the need for modern Crusades vs. Islam, & rampant Islamophobic lies. 15/

mediamatters.org/pete-hegseth/p…

In 2018, Hegseth was speaking in Israel & said,

"There's no reason why the miracle of the reestablishment of the Temple on the Temple Mount is not possible."

This is a far-right, Christian Zionist fantasy: that the Muslim holy sites can be removed. 16/

The idea that some entity (the U.S.? Israel?) could raze the 3rd holiest site in Islam (Dome of the Rock/Haram al-Sharif) to build the 3rd Jewish Temple is the sort of wild scheme you read abt in bad Christian apocalyptic novels. Now, it's also the hope of the future SecDef! 17/

This is what I found from an hour's worth of digging. I'm sure there's more.

It's another sign of the hand-in-glove rel'p b/w Christian extremism (in all its varieties) & Trump's coming regime.

We need more reporting & exposure of Hegseth's theology & who influences him. 17/