Mastodawn

William Lindsey

"The fact that Hegseth cast aside prudence in making his pugnacious prayer is testimony to how much of a true believer he is—not only in his particular brand of born-again Christianity but also in far-right identity politics. ...

The fact that Hegseth sees the world in Manichaean terms means he’ll not be willing to make deals with forces he sees as metaphysically and categorically evil."

~ Jeet Heer

#Hegseth #HolyWar #WhiteChristianNationalism #Iran
/1

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/pete-hegseth-iran-holy-war/

Pete Hegseth’s Holy War Is an Unholy Nightmare

The defense secretary is talking about Iran in bloodcurdling tones of religious extremism—and underscoring how much of a dangerous fanatic he is.

The Nation

William Lindsey

"The war on Iran is wish fulfillment for an entire class of warmongers, including Hegseth. Within this world, Iran has become a bête noire, an all-consuming obsession that, for some, has a religious dimension. An Islamic regime like Iran is a spiritual foe, not just a security threat."

Sarah Jones

#Hegseth #HolyWar #WhiteChristianNationalism #Iran
/2

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/iran-pete-hegseth-holy-war.html

Iran Has Become Pete Hegseth’s Holy War

Hegseth has turned the war in Iran into a kind of religious Crusade in the name of power — and Trump.

Intelligencer

William Lindsey

"For Hegseth, who writes and speaks of himself as an enemy of Islam, the war is an opportunity to score a blow for Christ."

#Hegseth #HolyWar #WhiteChristianNationalism #Iran
/3

William Lindsey

"If Hegseth genuinely believes in a God of wrath, he is a courageous man, one bold enough to presume not only that he represents the omnipotent God’s interests but that he can safely ignore the direct teachings of Jesus in order to carry out what he deems to be God’s will on earth, supremely confident that God’s will aligns entirely with his own.

That takes a kind of courage I don’t have."

~ Kristin Du Mez

#Hegseth #HolyWar #WhiteChristianNationalism #Iran
/4

https://kristindumez.substack.com/p/the-unappreciated-courage-of-pete

The uappreciated courage of Pete Hegseth

No really, hear me out...

Du Mez CONNECTIONS

William Lindsey

As Aaron Parnas says, in one evening "Pete Hegseth amplified calls to send Iran back to the 'Stone Age,'" and "Trump compared himself to Jesus’ reception on Palm Sunday, noting that crowds once hailed Jesus as king and saying people now call him 'king.'”

#Hegseth #Trump #HolyWar #WhiteChristianNationalism #Iran
/5

https://aaronparnas.substack.com/p/major-update-white-house-concerned

Major Update: White House Concerned as Trump's Address to Nation Falls Flat, Trump Considers Firing Bondi and Gabbard, and More

Good morning everyone.

The Parnas Perspective

William Lindsey

"Hegseth’s tenure as defense secretary has been one long cosplay of toxic white masculinity — from his performative kettlebell workouts to his closure of an advisory committee that helped draw women into military service. His speeches and public appearances all emphasize the 'Warrior Ethos' and the 'War-Fighter,' and seems to believe that things like 'logistics' are for wimps and sissies."

~ Garrett Graff

#Hegseth #Trump #HolyWar #WhiteChristianNationalism #Iran
/8

https://www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/the-mythology-of-pete-hegseth

The Mythology of Pete Hegseth

The Iran War cheerleader-in-chief embraces a dangerous alternate history of the 21st Century

Doomsday Scenario

William Lindsey

"I think we haven’t as a nation reckoned how corrupting his ideology of Christian nationalism is to the Pentagon. He’s been injecting Christian rhetoric and prayers into public appearances, is reshaping and threatening the chaplain corps (which, again, he says has been 'watered down'!), increasingly talks of the war in Iran as some messianic Crusade, and last week even held a prayer service at the Pentagon."

#Hegseth #Trump #HolyWar #WhiteChristianNationalism #Iran
/9

@wdlindsy You only need logistics and planning if you intend to win and survive long term. That's clearly not the plan.

Ondřej Michálek 1d ago

@wdlindsy
China is rising on the superpower leaderboard by every other step that Trump takes

Maddad ☑️1d ago

Any decent Christian will tell you that God doesn't need man to do his work.
God decides how it will happen.

William Lindsey

@maddad I suspect a lot of decent Christians, I included, would say that the story of creation in the scriptures is about God's choice to share creation with human beings as co-creators.

@wdlindsy I wonder if anyone has ever told him what the average Muslim thinks of Jesus.

(Spoiler: Jesus (or Isa in Arabic) is one of the most important Islamic Prophets, pretty much on a level with Muhammed.

Hegseth is going to be in for a shock, given that Muslims and most Christians view the teachings of Jesus completely differently than he foes.
If I didn't know better, I would think Hegseth hasn't actually read the Bible, instead getting an AI summary.

@wdlindsy - Jerk is a quicker description.

Mary Margaret 🇨🇦🌈🇺🇦 ☮️ 🍸1d ago

At this point, I'm ready to join Team Iran and cheer them on to defeat the US.

Justin M 1d ago

@Babcia54 @wdlindsy strange times that the government of Iran is likely the more reasonable one at this stage. The governments of the US and Israel have totally gone off the rails.

William Lindsey

@Babcia54 I think many Americans are looking at what's happening and finding ourselves inclined to want Trump and Hegseth, if not our troops, to receive a good drubbing. Even if many of us globally cannot find the way the Iranian regime runs things anything at all to praise.