‘Much like the 11th century’: Trump Defense pick called for American ‘crusade’

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. Secretary of Defense, has expressed opposition to the United Nations as a “fully globalist” entity and attacked NATO as "a relic" that should be "scrapped and remade in order for freedom to be truly defended." He has also advocated for the United States to ignore the Geneva Conventions, which govern humanitarian treatment in war. He has suggested that America’s military should tell Al Qaeda if they do not surrender, "we will rip your arms off and feed them to hogs," while calling for a new "American crusade," according to The Guardian.

“Our present moment is much like the 11th century,” Hegseth, a weekend co-host on Fox News' "Fox & Friends," wrote in his book, "American Crusade."

The Guardian calls it "a striking passage" in which "he presents his support for Israel as a renewal of medieval crusades."

“We don’t want to fight, but, like our fellow Christians a thousand years ago, we must. We need an American crusade,” Hegseth wrote. “We Christians – alongside our Jewish friends and their remarkable army in Israel – need to pick up the sword of unapologetic Americanism and defend ourselves."

“For us as American crusaders, Israel embodies the soul of our American crusade – the ‘why’ to our ‘what’.”

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“Faith, family, freedom, and free enterprise; if you love those, learn to love the state of Israel. And then find an arena in which to fight for her,” he added.

Last week, news broke of Hegseth's tattoos, one of which includes the words, "Deus vult."

"Several experts have cited the use of 'Deus vult' by extremist groups," according to The National Catholic Reporter. "The phrase — attributed to Pope Urban II ahead of the First Crusade in 1095, which sought to regain Christian control of the Holy Land from Muslim rule — has become an online hashtag, and has also appeared in anti-Muslim graffiti, with two Arkansas mosques defaced in 2016 with the text."

Earlier this month The Bulwark noted that Hegseth "has made clear that he sees himself and Donald Trump—whom he has approvingly called a 'Crusader in Chief'—as leaders in a holy war to reclaim America."

They cite this passage from Hegseth's 2020 book:

"Like crusaders and patriots past, Donald Trump’s red hat rebellion demonstrates that unapologetically going on offense is the only tenable strategy for the defense of our republic. Surrounded by the Left, with the odds stacked against us, only a crusade will do."

The Guardian also reports that in his book Hegseth "asks bluntly: 'Why do we fund the anti-American UN? Why is Islamist Turkey a member of Nato?'"

Hegseth "has attacked several key US alliances such as Nato, allied countries such as Turkey and international institutions such as the United Nations in two recent books, as well as saying US troops should not be bound by the Geneva conventions," and "has tied US foreign policy almost entirely to the priority of Israel, a country of which he says: 'If you love America, you should love Israel.'"

"Elsewhere," The Guardian adds, "Hegseth appears to argue that the US military should ignore the Geneva conventions and any international laws governing the conduct of war, and instead 'unleash them' to become a 'ruthless', 'uncompromising' and 'overwhelmingly lethal' force geared to 'winning our wars according to our own rules'."

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In his 2024 book, "The War on Warriors," Hegseth asks: “What if we treated the enemy the way they treated us?”

“Would that not be an incentive for the other side to reconsider their barbarism? Hey, Al Qaeda: if you surrender, we might spare your life. If you do not, we will rip your arms off and feed them to hogs.”

“We are just fighting with one hand behind our back – and the enemy knows it," Hegseth complains. "If our warriors are forced to follow rules arbitrarily and asked to sacrifice more lives so that international tribunals feel better about themselves, aren’t we just better off winning our wars according to our own rules?!”

“Who cares what other countries think?” he concludes.

The Guardian also points to Hegseth's successful efforts to have Donald Trump, during his first term, "pardon US soldiers charged or convicted of war crimes."

Attorney Adam Cohen, Vice Chair of Lawyers for Good Government, pointing to The Guardian's report writes: "The man Trump picked to be SecDef Said 'The military and police..will be forced to make a choice' Because 'there will be some form of civil war' So MAGA should start 'an AMERICAN CRUSADE' To 'mock, humiliate, intimidate, and crush our leftist opponents' HE MUST NOT BE CONFIRMED"

Cohen was pointing to another article at The Guardian on Hegseth, from Friday, that reads in part:

"In one of his five published books he wrote that in the event of a Democratic election victory in the US there would be a 'national divorce' in which 'The military and police … will be forced to make a choice' and 'Yes, there will be some form of civil war.'"

"Hegseth’s 2020 book exhorts conservatives to undertake 'an AMERICAN CRUSADE', to 'mock, humiliate, intimidate, and crush our leftist opponents', to 'attack first' in response to a left he identifies with 'sedition', and he writes that the book 'lays out the strategy we must employ in order to defeat America’s internal enemies'."

Fred Wellman, an Army veteran of 22 years who served four combat tours, is now a political consultant and the host of "On Democracy." Responding to Cohen's post, he writes: "Pete Hegseth must step aside."

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