Concerns are mounting over Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon, Fox News host and military veteran Pete Hegseth. CBS News reports that Hegseth was one of 12 National Guard members who were removed as guards for President Biden’s 2021 inauguration over possible extremist ties. Hegseth has tattoos associated with the white supremacist and neo-Nazi movements, including what’s known as a Jerusalem cross, a symbol used by Christian nationalists.
In related news, the government watchdog Accountable.US announced it’s launching a “Trump Accountability War Room” to monitor Trump’s appointments and executive actions as he takes up his second term.
Might be an unpopular comment, but I googled the Jerusalem cross and it appears to be more of a religious symbol than anything.
Saying he has tattoos linked with white nationalists is just sensationalism. And it has gotten the exact response in this thread that it wanted.
Edit:
For the pitchfork wielding lemmings, if you search for “Jerusalem cross” on ADL Hate Symbol Searcg, it returns ZERO results.
Hating on this guy because you misinterpreted a tattoo that he has only makes you and people like you look ridiculous. And when the next guy stands up and says actual hateful things, WE won’t have a voice because YOU wasted it on garbage news stories like this one.
It’s been coopted by the far right for a while now. Pete is not a Polish Babushka, the symbol has a different meaning to him, here’s specific reference to the Jerusalem Cross amd deus vult here. https://www.mccaininstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/white-supremacy-and-anti-government-groups-read-ahead-materials.pdf
Might be an unpopular comment, but I googled the Swastika and it appears to be more of a religious symbol than anything.
😂 Clearly you googled neither… literally every link for “swastika” mentions nazis. Google “Jerusalem cross” and the only posts you see related to white nationalism are Reddit posts with people asking if the symbol is related to white nationalism/nazis and nearly every comment saying it is not.
Edit: so many downvotes from people that also put 0 effort into looking this up.
They might mean other tattoos, he seems to have a collection.
It still makes him a religious weirdo, possibly with a bizarre crusade fetish. Not a great look.
The article specifically mentioned that tattoo and no other ones… I’m not saying this dude is qualified for the job. There’s probably tons of legit reasons to hate this pick.
This article is just rage bate, though. And judging by this thread it is a successful one.
It also means he’s a terrible Christian because Christians are not supposed to tattoo themselves 🙄
I am looking at other photos. I can also see “Ne Desit Virtus” (Let Valor Not Fail) with a sword. That’s a symbol from the 187th Infantry Regiment. I also see the Chi Rho symbol, a Greek symbol for the name of Christ. Another tattoo is “MDCCLXXV” for 1775. Above that tattoo is an American Flag with a gun superimposed on it. I am not sure if these mean a recalling of the US War for Independence. The gun looks modern but could also serve as a bridge to the modern military of the US. On his other arm is “Deus Vult.”
Broadly speaking, these tattoos suggest both military service and Christian identity.
Not found are any symbols I’ve seen identified with White Nationalism. No Valknot, swastika, black sun, 88 symbol, Confederate symbolism, etc.
Edit: The photo I was looking at is here: [https://i.imgur.com/kkroDES.png].
Only USAians will see somebody with a flag tattoo and not think “this is fascist scum”.
Deus Vult has indeed been co-opted by white supremacists along with a lot of crusader/christian symbolism.
Almost like its coded so as to not blatantly say “I’m a white supremist” while also clearly signaling to people he is.
Are people just learning about plausible deniability?
Now that said, sure this could be a nothing burger, but when coupled to be right wing…
What’s that saying?
You find me a nazi I can sure bet they’d be voting Republican.
No the people in this thread are deliberate nazis trying to normalize that shit and your instances are such trash that they don’t get moderated
https://www.adultliteracyleague.org/resources/
as if the crusaders were egalitarian
Dude is definitely a nut, but when we start throwing around terms like “white nationalists” for things that are absolutely not white nationalism, it dilutes the impact of claims about people who legitimately are white nationalists.
Political echo chambers have been in “Two Minutes of Hate” mode for years now. Throw every insult imaginable at your opponents. Even if it doesn’t fit, even if it doesn’t make sense. Just hold someone up and go “This is the bad man! Boo the bad man! Boooooo!” Anyone who cares ask “Why are we booing? And what makes this man bad?” Is immediately silenced by others because it’s just so obvious he’s a bad man. Look at all the other people booing him!
Meanwhile his face is digitally changed to a bleating goat, and the people cheer.
This happens on both right and left wing echo chambers.
https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/ Christo-fascists can hate just like Nazis can.
Hi, I’ve never heard of adl.org, but I searched for Jerusalem cross on this site and found no results. Does that work as confirmation that this symbol is NOT a white nationalist symbol?