No matter what Pete Hegseth says, his tattoos are anything but typical symbols of Christianity

In the months leading up to the presidential election, Trump frequently used the phrase “the enemy within” to describe those in opposition to his political ideologies. The accusation being levied against anyone left of Dick Chaney was that they were either part of “the swamp” or commie leftists that needed to have an apocalyptic-level reckoning to help rebalance the nation back to the good ol’ days. After securing the election, Trump began making quick work of announcing his cabinet nominees. These nominees looked more like a bad season from Celebrity Apprentice than any serious attempt at building a government. Still, I am not entirely sure he knows the difference between the two. One such nominee was a real head-scratcher, even amongst his most loyal supporters: Pete Hegseth. If you haven’t heard about him before, that is probably because you’ve got better things to do on a Saturday morning than to sit around and watch Fox and Friends Weekend Edition. Like with most appointments, those in the media and the general public began scrambling to figure out who these folks are, what they stand for, and if they have the credentials to back up them becoming confirmed to their respective positions. Well, in the case of Pete Hegseth, it seems a bit sketchy, considering his limited military experience and nearly non-existent managerial background, that he would be given the job of Defense Secretary. Then, some major news broke.

According to the Associated Press, Pete Hegseth had been flagged by a fellow service member as a possible insider threat.

You heard that right: after months of Trump bellowing about Democrats, liberals, and leftists being “the enemy within” without any actual evidence to prove such a threat existed, he went and nominated someone for Secretary of Defense who had actually been accused of being an insider threat, an enemy within.

The reason the accusations were brought against Mr. Hegseth was based upon a number of his tattoos being potentially linked to Christian Nationalist and White Nationalist organizations. JD Vance immediately jumped to Hegseth’s defense, saying, “They're attacking Pete Hegseth for having a Christian motto tattooed on his arm. This is disgusting anti-Christian bigotry from the AP, and the entire organization should be ashamed of itself.”

Hegseth quickly retweeted VD Vance with this response, “Anti-Christian bigotry in the media on full display. They can target me — I don’t give a damn — but this type of targeting of Christians, conservatives, patriots and everyday Americans will stop on DAY ONE at DJT’s DoD.”

So, are these symbols benign markers of the Christian faith, or do they carry a more sinister meaning? Well, thankfully for y’all, I have an immense knowledge of the subject. Let’s break this all down, shall we?

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On October 31, 1517, a monk in Germany had 95 problems, and a bitch ain’t one. He nailed these grievances to a cathedral door, and this moment became marked as the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Essentially, this was a full-scale condemnation of the Roman Catholic Church and a rejection of their actions, theology, and practices. Over the next 500 years, Protestantism has grown into many different sects but the most prominent within the United States is Evangelical Christianity. Within Protestantism, regardless of which flavor, there is a general belief that Catholics are not Christians and are part of the “cult of Rome.” One of Martin Luther's major grievances with the Catholic Church was over the issue of indulgences and the Crusades, a religious campaign used by the Catholics in an attempt to conquer the world by targeting Muslims, Jews, and Eastern Orthodox Christians. These crusades were funded in no small part by the selling of indulgences, an archaic Catholic belief that a person can receive forgiveness of sins by way of purchasing them from the Church. Now, there are free ways to obtain an indulgence, and those practices still exist to this day within Catholicism, and the selling of indulgences was outlawed within Catholicism in no small part due to the Protestant Reformation. Why does this matter? Well, I am glad you asked! It matters a fuckton because it’s extremely important to understand how much Protestantism is founded upon the wholesale condemnation of the Crusades.

There are two major tattoos in question that Pete Hegseth has adorned his body with, which he claims are generic symbols of Christianity. The first is the Jerusalem Cross, which is also called the Crusader's Cross. It is a series of five crosses with one large cross in the center and four identical smaller crosses in the hollow point between each bar. The Jerusalem Cross became associated with the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Crusader state set up after the First Crusade. The First Crusade was known as wildly antisemitic in general, but it also resulted in the theft of many Eastern Orthodox Christian and Jewish landmarks by the Roman Catholics.

Over the centuries, the Crusader's Cross became associated with Jerusalem, and some rebranding work has been done to make it more palatable. However, its origins are rather dark. That being said, it is not uncommon to see these crosses sold in marketplaces and tourist traps while visiting the Holy Land. Over the years, I’ve owned several antique Jerusalem Crosses from the Holy Land, many of them being quite ornate. Despite its complicated history, it is not viewed in and of itself as a symbol of any particular hate group, which is bizarre considering its origins. Yet, that is how history and symbols tend to go.

If it were the case that Pete Hegseth was a Catholic or Orthodox Christian who wore this symbol on his body, it would likely be relatively benign. Most liturgical Christians do not understand the history of this cross and just think it’s pretty. If you were to go to Mass tomorrow at any Catholic Church in the world, you’d likely find a couple of elderly Catholic ladies wearing this cross. If you ask them about it, they would likely tell you about the time they purchased it during a cruise to the Holy Land. However, Mr. Hegseth is a Protestant and part of an organization known as the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, a group with roots in Presbyterian theology and practice that borrows from other Protestant groups such as the Baptist and Wesleyan traditions.

After a detailed look at the Crusader's cross tattooed on Hegseth, it is not a traditional image. Typically, straight-pointed Greek crosses are used for the image. In the case of Hegseth, the cross used in his tattoo have arches that come down more akin to the Iron Cross, a symbol used by the Nazis.

(Left) a typical Jerusalem cross with straight points (center) Pete Hegseth tattoo (right) iron cross medal

Additionally, the Latin slogan Deus Vult, another reference to the Crusades, is tattooed on his arm. This phrase means “God wills it” and is associated with the theology of Divine Providence. It sounds like it's not that big of a deal, except that it has become coopted by those who believe in Christian Nationalism and that they are the rightful heirs to conquer the land. This is based on a theological ideology known as Manifest Destiny, which states that the United States was given to white people to conquer by God.

Over the last decade, there has been an abandonment of anti-Crusade sentiment amongst some Evangelicals as Manifest Destiny has become widely accepted amongst Christian Nationalists, and, over time, sympathy for the Crusaders has blossomed because of their fight against Muslims. This has resulted in a rise in the use of Crusader images as coded hate speech against the queer community, Muslims, and other marginalized groups. Alt-right accounts often utilize Crusader memes as ways to threaten violence without explicitly stating it. This has resulted in a resurgence of the use of symbols associated with the Crusades by Christian Nationalist groups, including the Crusader's Cross and the phrase Deus Vult.

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This leaves us with the question of whether this is a case of the evil media picking on Christians or if Pete Hegseth is adorned with permanent hate speech.

If he were a Roman Catholic, I think it would be hard to place him in the hate speech category, because there is a complicated history with the Jerusalem cross. It might have been a symbol he was accustomed to or had some major significance. However, that is not the case. These are not symbols of his Protestant upbringing or linked to any history or heritage, past or present, but symbols of the Crusaders that are heavily being used by Christian Nationalists to promote violence and hatred. These symbols were born out of antisemitism and violence and have now been adopted by hate groups for this purpose again as they begin the process of a new crusade known as Project 2025 to purge our country of queer people, Muslims, immigrants, people of color, and push forward the subjugation of women.

This isn’t a case of his faith being called into question but his beliefs of supremacy, superiority, and sovereignty being actively called out by other Christians who are tired of the Prince of Peace yet again being used as a weapon of war against the very types of people Jesus called us to love.

In other words, and so that I make myself abundantly clear, he is lying. He knows exactly what those symbols mean; it's why they are on his body, and no one is trying to keep a Christian out of serving their country simply on the merits of them being a Christian. This is about trying to keep a Christian Nationalist as far away from being in one of the highest positions in the land as is possible.