Pete Hegseth: five things to know about the new US secretary of defense Hegseth has been accused of sexual assault and excessive drinking, and has endorsed extremist Christian doctrine.
Extremism experts have sounded the alarm over his nomination, also pointing to his tattoos, which feature a tapestry of symbols widely embraced by Christian nationalists, including a Jerusalem cross on his chest, an American flag with 13 stars partly obscured by an assault weapon below his shoulder and the words “Deus Vult” (“God wills it”) on his biceps.
The Senate has confirmed Fox News host and army veteran Pete Hegseth to be the US secretary of defense, placing him in charge of the federal government’s largest agency after a tie-breaking vote had to be cast by JD Vance.
In a series of podcasts, Hegseth appeared to endorse the theocratic and authoritarian doctrine of “sphere sovereignty”, a worldview derived from the extremist beliefs of Christian reconstructionism and espoused by churches aligned with far-right Idaho pastor Douglas Wilson.
In the interviews, Hegseth expresses agreement with the principle of sphere sovereignty, which envisions a subordination of “civil government” to Old Testament law, capital punishment for infringements of that law such as homosexuality, and rigidly patriarchal families and churches.
