Jul.03

electoral-vote.com

Dem 47

   

GOP 53

"Macho Man" Hegseth Doing Everything He Can to Create a Christian Nationalist Military...

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is obsessed with the Crusades. He has multiple Crusade-themed tattoos, most obviously a Jerusalem Cross on his right pectoral:

He regularly makes reference to the Crusades in his speeches and press conferences. And he book he wrote, about how the military can be used to Make America Great Again? The title of the book is: American Crusade: Our Fight to Stay Free.

Since he took office, and in particular in the last couple of months or so, Hegseth has been working hard to re-fashion the armed forces of the United States into the armed forces of the Crusades. Those armed forces were made up of soldiers who were white, male, Christian and, as far as Hegseth is aware, straight (though he might not want to read TOO much about Richard the Lionheart or Baldwin I of Jerusalem).

Here is a quick rundown of some of the recent steps Hegseth has taken to "adjust" the armed forces to his liking:

• White Makes Might: Hegseth began his reign by getting rid of a few "woke" generals (his term), including the Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Charles Q. Brown, and the first woman to be the Navy's top officer, Adm. Lisa Franchetti. The Secretary then took a look at the list of 31 officers slated to be promoted to rear admiral, lower half (1 star), and noticed there were 24 white men, four Black men and three women on it. He got rid of four of the white men, two of the Black men and all of the women, resulting in a final list that was 91% white and male. Note that Hegseth's decision will leave nine billets unfilled, and will also shape the group of people who make rear admiral, upper half (2 stars) in a few years, and vice admiral (3 stars) a few years after that, and admiral (4 stars) a few years after that.
  
  
• Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus, Part I: When Hegseth took over his department, it recognized 211 different faiths for purposes of personnel records, headstones, etc. And you can be sure that for each of those 211, there was at least one soldier who came along and was a member of that faith. Hegseth ordered the list to be trimmed to 31. Here is the full list, in its original incarnation:
  
  
  1. Agnostic (AN)
  2. Baha'i faith (BH)
  3. Buddhism (BU)
  4. Christian - Assemblies of God (AG)
  5. Christian - Baptist (BA)
  6. Christian - Brethren (BR)
  7. Christian - Catholic (CA)
  8. Christian - Church of Christ (CC)
  9. Christian - Church of God (CG)
  10. Christian - Church of the Nazarene (CN)
  11. Christian - Episcopal/Anglican (EA)
  12. Christian - Evangelical (EV)
  13. Christian - Jehovah's Witnesses (JW)
  14. Christian - Lutheran (LU)
  15. Christian - Methodist (ME)
  16. Christian - Non Denominational (ND)
  17. Christian - Orthodox (OX)
  18. Christian - Other (CO)
  19. Christian - Pentecostal (PE)
  20. Christian - Presbyterian (PR)
  21. Christian - Quaker (QU)
  22. Christian - Reformed (RE)
  23. Christian - Scientist (SC)
  24. Christian - Seventh Day Adventist (SA)
  25. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (CJ)
  26. Hindu (HI)
  27. Islam (Muslim) (IS)
  28. Judaism (Jewish) (JU)
  29. No Religion (NR)
  30. Other Religions (OR)
  31. Sikh (SI)
  
  Awfully Christian-heavy, isn't it? And undoubtedly it would be even more Christian-heavy if Hegseth thought he could get away with removing Islam (and probably Sikhism) from the list. That said, the Secretary and his people could not resist a bit of editorializing, which got him in a little bit of hot water. If you don't know already, do you see what it is?
  
  The answer is that, reflecting a common evangelical cheap shot, the LDS Church is NOT identified as "Christian." Numerous LDS members of Congress took exception to that, and the list was updated so that LDS soldiers now get to be Christians, too. It also does not hurt, as Andrew Egger at The Bulwark pointed out, that LDS voters tend to show up on Election Day and to vote Republican.
  
  
• Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus, Part II: Hegseth also ordered that military chaplains should no longer wear rank insignia, because their religious role is divine, whereas their civilian role is comparatively unimportant.
  
  
• Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus, Part III: Of course, some Christian ministers are preferable to others, and Hegseth is particularly close allies with notable Christian nationalists, like pastor Doug Wilson. Wilson, who once wrote an essay about the "blessings" of Southern slavery, entitled "Southern Slavery As It Was," recently organized a conference for Christian nationalists. And Wilson and the other organizers were apparently legitimately surprised when a Nazi bookseller showed up and did a brisk business in what it calls "Third Reich bundles"—three different collections of "greatest hits" of key Nazis, each of them comprised of six books, each collection selling for between $120 and $180. You know who wasn't shocked at this development? Everyone else who read this story.
  
  
• Biden: Joe Biden is not currently in the military, and so is beyond the reach of Hegseth. However. someone who IS still in the military is Gen. Christopher Donahue, who was the commander who oversaw the Biden-era withdrawal from Afghanistan. Or at least, he was in the military until yesterday. Donahue is white and male, and apparently Christian, so he checks all the "correct" boxes. However, he is the best Biden proxy within Hegseth's reach. So, the Secretary pushed Donahue out, with the General's retirement commencing today. Peers agree that the Army lost a top-notch officer for no good reason.

All of this said, Hegseth's biggest bugaboo is LGBTQ soldiers. He can't do anything about most of those letters, at least not yet, but he's been at work on the T through virtually his entire tenure. Thus far, the Secretary and his boss in the Oval Office, are having only moderate success. Hegseth's order to stop enlisting trans soldiers is the rule of the land, at least for now. However, his order to boot existing trans soldiers out of the service is on hold, thanks to a case brought by several trans soldiers, Talbott v. United States. The administration lost in court in May, and then lost again on June 1, when a three-judge panel from the Court of Appeals for Washington, DC, sustained an injuction keeping the trans soldiers in place while the legal case plays out. Judge Robert Wilkins, writing for the 2-1 majority, also hinted that the DoD is not likely to triumph in the end, observing that the policy appears to be "both arbitrary, and based on animus."

There was another setback for Donald Trump and Hegseth just this week. On Tuesday, at the instigation of G.L.A.D Law and the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, the Court of Appeals for Washington, DC, certified trans soldiers as a class. So, any decisions made in Talbott now apply to all trans solders in uniform, not just the ones who originally brought the case.

There is simply no question that Hegseth's exclusionary, hostile-to-many policies are making the U.S. military weaker, not stronger. There is no shortage of op-eds from former officers making that case. It's also basic logic. The fewer people who are "worthy" of service, the fewer soldiers you'll have, and the smaller the talent pool you'll be drawing from when choosing people for high-ranking jobs, for highly specialized technical/intelligence roles, etc. Will this rebound on the Republicans, politically? It's hard to say, because Hegseth's shenanigans haven't gotten as much attention as, say, Trump's grift. Plus, active-duty military are not supposed to share their political views openly. That said, active-duty military do talk to each other, and to their friends and family. The race in SC-01, where Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore (ret.), who was fired by Hegseth, and who is running as a Democrat in a district that is both heavy on Republicans (R+6) and heavy on current and former military personnel, could be instructive. (Z)