Trump’s nominee for defense secretary has close ties to Christian nationalists in Idaho • Alabama Reflector

“We’re in middle phase one right now, which is effectively a tactical retreat where you regroup, consolidate and reorganize, building up your army underground, with the possibility of later conducting offensive operations – and of course all of that. “It’s metaphorical and all that good stuff,” he said on the show.

Hegseth did not immediately respond to interview requests.

Hegseth has spoken positively about the writings of Christ Church Pastor Doug Wilson

Christ Church is led by Pastor Doug Wilson, who founded the Calvinist church group called the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CRC). CREC has congregations in nearly all 50 states and several foreign countries. Hegseth’s church is a member of CREC and Hegseth has commented favorably on Wilson’s writings.

Wilson and his allies have a rigid patriarchal belief system and do not believe in the separation of church and state. They advocate disenfranchising most women, banning non-Christians from holding office, and criminalizing the LGBTQ+ community.

More recently, Wilson has expanded his influence nationwide by building a religious, educational and media empire. His Association of Classical Christian Schools has hundreds of fundamentalist schools across the country, and his publishing company Canon Press releases dozens of titles each year as well as popular streaming shows that highlight unyielding socially conservative ideals.

In the recently released “Extremely American” podcast (created by this reporter), Wilson says one of his goals is to put like-minded people in positions of influence. In an email response to this story, he said he was closer to the byelection and that he supported Hegseth’s nomination, although he downplayed any influence he had on him.

“I was grateful for Trump’s victory and believe that Christians with similar views to me are much more likely to receive positions in the new administration,” he said.

Hegseth’s nomination could threaten the cohesion and diversity of the US military, experts say

That’s what worries Air Force veteran Mikey Weinstein, who is president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Weinstein says that if Hegseth were confirmed as defense secretary, he would threaten the cohesion of a religiously and racially diverse U.S. military.

“Pete Hegseth is a poster child for literally everything, which would be the opposite of what you would want from someone who controls the most technologically lethal organization in the history of this country,” he said.

Weinstein sees Hegseth’s nomination as an example of the dangers of Project 2025, a 900-page policy paper written by far-right political activists. It lays out a plan to gut the federal government and introduce Christian nationalist ideals.

“Christian nationalism is an absolutely deadly cancer that is spreading at the speed of light (on) the national security of this country,” he said. “It’s a Christian version of the Taliban.”

Matthew D. Taylor, senior fellow at the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies, said Hegseth was “one of the most extreme right-wing figures ever nominated for a Cabinet position, at least in modern memory.”

Taylor said he was broadly concerned that Christian nationalists, who tend to have a dim view of democracy, could potentially have major influence on this government.

“I think we should expect a profound deterioration in our democratic rule of law norms, and I think we are approaching a de facto Anglo-Protestant establishment, of the kind in which Anglo-Protestant Christianity is the de facto official religion in the United States “States,” he said.

Hegseth faces challenges in his nomination process due to several marital sex scandals and the recent revelation that he paid off a woman who accused him of sexual assault in exchange for her not speaking out about it. He denies assaulting her but admits he paid her. He has also been criticized for tattoos that are symbols of the Crusades and wrote a book called “American Crusade” in which he mocks Muslims.

Before Hegseth became a TV personality, he led the conservative veterans group Concerned Veterans for America, which advocated for greater privatization of veterans’ health care.

He has also said women should not be allowed to serve in combat roles in the military and has complained about what he called the military’s “woke” policies.

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