Pete Hegseth prays for violence
At 11:08 this morning, Saturday, April 4th, White House pool reporter Hugo Lowell of The Guardian filed a short and unexpected dispatch from inside the White House. The press was abruptly being sent home. The president would not be seen for the rest of the day. As Lowell noted, Trump is in Washington this weekend, but there has still been no formal news briefing on the situation with the missing airman in Iran. This sudden and unexpected shift marked the third consecutive day since the President of the United States has appeared before the public or taken in-person questions from reporters. The last time Donald J. Trump was seen by the American people was during his troubling primetime address to the nation on Wednesday night.
Soon after the reporters were asked to leave, reports started swirling that he had experienced a medical emergency and was transported by ambulance to Walter Reed Hospital in the Bethesda, Maryland area. Right now, these appear to be rumors with no merit behind them, with CBS News producer Emma Nicholson noting a Marine sentry was still standing guard outside the West Wing as of 1:50 p.m., suggesting he is still in the White House.
There is much we don’t know right now, and still much that we do. And we must continue to base our resistance on facts, evidence, and the truth above all else. And until we learn differently, the reality we are faced with is that the President of the United States is facing a crisis unlike any he has faced before, with his leadership position and power. Just maybe not in the way so many think he is. His ratings continue to drop. His illegal and dangerous war is escalating.
On a typical weekend, Donald Trump would have flown down to Mar-a-Lago. He would have gaggled with the press and spent his days golfing and his nights at elaborate dinner parties. This weekend, he continues to lock himself away in the White House and post Christian Nationalist dog whistle threats and battle cries on Truth Social.
Trump’s disturbing behavior started at 7:05 this morning when he posted this:
“Glory be to God” is how he ended his threat. The President of the United States issued a 48-hour military ultimatum against a sovereign nation and signed it with a prayer. Not a prayer for peace, or a prayer for the safe return of our missing service member. A prayer of conquest. A blessing over a bomb threat.
And if those words sound familiar, they should. On October 7, 2001, just weeks after the September 11th attacks, Osama bin Laden appeared on al-Jazeera and delivered a statement celebrating the destruction of the Twin Towers. He described America as having been “struck by God Almighty,” thanked God for the horror inflicted on our country, and closed with these words: “God is the Greatest and glory be to Islam.”
The structure is almost identical. Both statements open with a description of destruction being visited upon an enemy. Both frame it as divinely ordained. Both close by giving glory to God. Both use the invocation of the divine not as a prayer but as a punctuation mark on a threat. Both position the speaker not as a political leader making a political decision, but as an instrument of holy will carrying out a sacred mission.
The President of the United States is using the rhetorical framework of the most notorious terrorist statement of the 21st century to announce military action against a Muslim country, on social media, on the morning before Easter, during Passover.
And then, five hours later, at noon, he posted again:
And then he dug deeper with more troubling language, using the term “Third World” to signal a worldview in which people are sorted, ranked, and judged by where they come from. Where some are seen as worthy of dignity, and others are not. And when that kind of language is used by the leader of the “free world”, it gives others permission to see, and treat the world the same way.
These two posts, taken together, tell the story of a presidency in turmoil, with a president willing to say or do anything to stay in power. Including launching a holy war abroad and elevating white nationalism at home. He might be the one helping to shape and approve these messages, but Trump didn’t write this theology, nor did he come up with the idea to post it. He’s not a religious man. He doesn’t go to church willingly. He doesn’t read scripture. He cosplays religion the way he cosplays leadership, borrowing the language and the posture without any of the substance behind it whenever he thinks it benefits him. Whoever is feeding him this crusader rhetoric knows exactly what they’re doing. They are showing him highlight reels of his war, convincing him the imagery would be powerful if framed as a battle for God. And as his cognitive abilities continue to decline, it is easier to convince or encourage him to use this kind of language.
And that brings us to the people who are actually running this. Stephen Miller sits in the White House as Deputy Chief of Staff, the ideological architect of this administration’s darkest impulses. He is the voice of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for dismantling American democracy and rebuilding it as a white Christian nationalist state. Miller has been the driving force behind the immigration crackdowns, the Muslim bans, the family separations, and now the framing of an illegal war as a religious crusade. He is the one shaping the language, building the narrative, and ensuring that every action this administration takes serves the larger project of consolidating power around a very specific vision of who belongs in America and who doesn’t.
And then there is the man running the war. Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, who is not just unqualified for the position but is actively dangerous in it.
This is a man who has “Deus Vult” tattooed on his bicep. The phrase means “God Wills It,” and it was the battle cry of the First Crusade in 1095, when European armies marched on Jerusalem and slaughtered tens of thousands of Muslims and Jews. Medieval historians are unequivocal about what this phrase means. One put it plainly: “There is no version of Deus Vult that means anything other than Crusader fanboy.” Another said, “It’s a call to religious violence, expressly linked to a pretty horrific episode in history. There isn’t another way of reading it.” He has a Jerusalem Cross covering his chest, and the Arabic word “kafir,” meaning “infidel,” tattooed below the Deus Vult. He wrote a book called “American Crusade” and ended it with the words: “See you on the battlefield. Together, with God’s help, we will save America. Deus vult!” This is not a man who stumbled into religious imagery. He is a man who branded his body with the symbols of a holy war and then was handed the most powerful military on Earth.
And the military itself flagged him before any of this happened. In January 2021, a National Guard anti-terrorism team member reviewed Hegseth’s tattoos and reported him as a potential insider threat, noting that the “Deus Vult” tattoo is “associated with supremacist groups.” His orders to serve at Biden’s inauguration were revoked. The United States military looked at Pete Hegseth and concluded he was too dangerous to stand guard at a ceremony. Four years later, he is running the Pentagon.
At a Pentagon worship service last week, the first since the Iran war began, Hegseth stood before military personnel and civilian employees and prayed these words: “Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation. Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.” He prayed for God to “break the teeth of the ungodly” and for “justice be executed swiftly and without remorse, that evil may be driven back, and wicked souls delivered to the eternal damnation prepared for them.” He prayed all of this in the name of Jesus Christ. From a podium at the Pentagon. During a war against a Muslim country.
NPR reported that Hegseth has also used the phrase “no quarter” in the context of this war. Those words have a specific legal meaning. Giving no quarter, taking no prisoners, is a war crime. And Hegseth has said publicly that Islam “is not a religion of peace.” He belongs to the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, a small conservative denomination co-founded by Doug Wilson, a self-described Christian nationalist who has said that women should not have the right to vote. Wilson was invited to preach at Hegseth’s Pentagon worship service in February. These are the men shaping the spiritual life of the American military during a war in the Middle East.
And this is not a man whose personal history suggests the character, discipline, or moral foundation that the job demands. His own mother wrote him in 2018: “You are an abuser of women, that is the ugly truth, and I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man, and have been for years, and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.” She said she was writing “on behalf of all the women, and I know it’s many, you have abused in some way.” She later said she wrote the email in anger and apologized to her son. But the words are in the record.
He ran two veterans nonprofits into the ground. Donors had to devise a plan to strip him of control and merge the organization with another group just to save it. At Concerned Veterans for America, a whistleblower report detailed a pattern of drunken behavior at work events, sexual pursuit of female staffers, and financial mismanagement. He was carried out of a Memorial Day event. He passed out on a party bus. He was so intoxicated at a strip club in Louisiana that he tried to climb on stage with the performers. At a bar in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, in May 2015, while on official business, he was reported chanting “Kill All Muslims! Kill All Muslims!” in what was described as “a drunk and violent manner.” That incident was entered into the Congressional Record during his confirmation process. This is the man praying for “overwhelming violence” against Muslims from the Pentagon podium. The line between the barstool in Ohio and the briefing room in Arlington is straight and unbroken.
And just two days ago, Hegseth fired Army Chief of Staff General Randy George after George pushed back on two Black and two female officers from a promotion list. Nine U.S. officials told reporters that Hegseth had blocked or delayed promotions for more than a dozen Black and female senior officers across all four branches of the military. He has banned photographers from press briefings because he didn’t like how he looked in published photos. He brought his wife to bilateral meetings with foreign defense officials. He installed his brother as a senior advisor at the Pentagon. He snaps at reporters who ask basic questions about the war, calling their inquiries “gotcha” questions while only taking questions from hand-picked, pro-Trump outlets.
This is the man running a war. A man who couldn’t manage a nonprofit. A man whose own colleagues said he should never be in charge of anything. A man whose mother called him an abuser. A man who chanted about killing Muslims and then was given the power to do it. And he is doing it under the banner of a holy crusade, with tattoos of the Crusaders on his body and the battle cry of the First Crusade on his arm.
And here is the part the history books will write first: the Crusaders lost. The First Crusade captured Jerusalem, but the kingdoms they built collapsed. The cities they conquered were retaken. Every gain was temporary. The men who marched under the banner of ‘Deus Vult’ left behind nothing but a cautionary tale about what happens when leaders convince themselves and their followers that God wants them to kill. A thousand years later, what remains is not victory but a warning. Hegseth tattooed the motto of a failed holy war on his body. He just hasn’t read far enough in the history to know how the story ends.
And while we talk about so many positions filled with failed humans in the White House and in Trump’s cabinet, we can’t lose sight of who they are harming. The people behind the numbers. The civilians in Iran who thought the United States was coming to free them from their evil leadership. And instead, they are being assaulted by us. Our military members deserve better, too. As we have seen, they are being put in extraordinary danger. And the man responsible for sending them there is praying for “overwhelming violence” while the man who ordered the mission is hiding from the press.
There is growing talk about Trump removing and replacing more of the original members of his cabinet, and we should be paying close attention to that. Because what’s replacing them is not better. Every change moves this administration closer to what the Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 have been building for decades: a Christian nationalist state where women are reduced to what men decide they’re worth, where little girls are taught to prepare for husbands instead of careers, where Black and brown communities are pushed backward into second-class citizenship, and where white nationalism and Christian nationalism merge into a single governing doctrine. It feels like it’s happening slowly, until you look back at where we were a year ago and realize how fast the ground has shifted beneath us. It compounds every single day.
And yet. I look outside tonight, and it’s gorgeous. We’re deep into spring. There are no bombs going off in our front yards. You’re reminded something is wrong when you fill up your tank, or when the grocery bill hits a little harder than it used to. But the mainstream news isn’t covering this in any meaningful way, and most people have no idea how bad it actually is. I talk to people in real life and tell them what’s happening, and they’re shocked. That’s one of the most common things I hear from readers: “Why am I not getting this information from anywhere else?” We are hitting a wall with this information, and it’s on purpose.
Because not enough people understand why we’re at war. The Trump administration has been deliberately vague about it because they can’t explain it in a way that would justify what we are doing. So he is staying silent, hiding from the press and the American people.
And on the other side of the world, the cost of that silence is measured in lives. How many more members of our military are we going to lose? How many more Iranian civilians? How many more people outside our borders have to suffer with the energy crisis, the rising cost of everything, the threat of further wars, and further unrest? How much more suffering are we going to allow because we have an evil leader who is hiding from the press while the man he put in charge of the war prays for “overwhelming violence” from a Pentagon podium?
We are still stuck in the frustrating middle. Everything is deteriorating around us, and we are still months away from the midterms and any meaningful ways to stop Trump and his enablers’ assault on our country and world. It is a deeply troubling time. Where we bounce from hope to disbelief. And the only way to the other side is through these troubling days. We must stay focused on the endgame. To rid our country of this authoritarian takeover. And there are multiple steps we need to focus on all at once.
We can’t eat our own. I’ve seen too many purity tests happening ahead of the primaries. We need to remember we are not picking a life partner. We are voting for the best options that will carry us to a government rooted back in democratic norms. There were a lot of mistakes made by the Democrats that got us here. This is true, but there is no place for throwing imperfect people under a bus when the other option is a full fascist takeover.
We have to push back in every way possible against Trump’s voter suppression initiatives. If your state governments are not part of the resistance to this, demand they join. Write letters, call them, protest outside their offices. This is an all-hands-on-deck situation.
Protect the truth at all costs. There is a lot of noise online, so stay focused on what matters most. Pick a handful of causes that are the most important to you and share them with your friends and family. Think of what issues others in your life are concerned with, and if the opportunity arises, share how they, too, are or will be affected by Trump’s actions.
Continue to support independent media. Go back and look through who your favorite voices are and support them. Share their work. Join their paid memberships if you can. Not just mine, others too. Many of us are not backed by any corporate sponsorships, so that our voices can remain independent. Your paid support is what keeps this work available for everyone and not behind a paywall for anyone.
Today I took a drive to pick my daughter up a meal from one of her favorite restaurants. She has dietary restrictions due to a medical condition, and there are not a lot of places that she can safely eat at. So I spent a fair amount of time in the car today driving to one. And I let my mind wander to what we can do right now to push towards the better days we so desperately want, and I keep coming back to how resistance isn’t just protests and elections and calling your representatives, although all of that matters and we must keep doing it. Resistance is also how we treat each other. It’s holding a door. It’s smiling at a stranger. It’s letting someone merge into traffic. It’s choosing not to escalate when someone on the freeway is being aggressive. I know that doesn’t always come naturally, especially right now when everyone is stressed, scared, and angry. But these small acts of kindness are more powerful than we give them credit for. Every single day, we can set out to make somebody’s life better, safer, or a little happier, even if it’s not reciprocated. It doesn’t have to be expensive. It doesn’t have to be grand.
Because here is what I know to be true: cults target desperate people. Movements like MAGA thrive on isolation, on fear, on the feeling that nobody cares and nothing matters. Every act of kindness is a thread that keeps someone connected to the real world. Every moment of genuine human warmth is inoculation against the loneliness that makes people vulnerable to radicalization. If we can bring that kindness back, not as a slogan but as a daily practice, we could pull people out of the darkness. We could make it harder for Trump and the next strongman to find an audience and to keep the one he has.
That is something each one of us can put into practice today. We can remind ourselves and each other that most people are good and kind. And that as long as that is true, they haven’t won. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.
I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather
PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.
This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.
Picture of the day: The only one in this house not stressed about the news.
Sources:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/text-of-bin-ladens-statement/
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/02/politics/trump-speech-iran-war-oil-prices-analysis
https://www.history.com/articles/why-are-countries-classified-as-first-second-or-third-world
https://newlinesmag.com/essays/pete-hegseths-tattoos-and-the-crusading-obsession-of-the-far-right/
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5017946-pentagon-pick-hegseth-misconduct/
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/2/trumps-primetime-speech-on-iran-war-key-takeaways
I hope you know how much we appreciate your thoughtful, intelligent analysis of what's happening, day in and day out. I don't know how you do it, but thank you.
Please remember if you hand power over to one man (Hitler) he will find ways to surround himself with similar dangerous and radicalised men and women to do his biding.
What is happening in USA is very very dangerous. The leader is weak and the enablers are stepping up to take over with terrifying and maniacal agenders. Both Miller and Hegseth are pushing forward their distorted ideas which will lead to a country run like China or Russia with only one voice. You have to start pushing back hard. As Heather says and I so agree be kind be loving and be truthful.