President-elect Donald Trump’s defense secretary pick, Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and military veteran, has faced all
Pete Hegseth walks to an elevator for a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower in New York, Dec. 15, 2016. President-elect Donald Trump’s defense secretary pick, Pete Hegseth, is a Fox News host and military veteran. He has tattoos of the Jerusalem cross and the Latin phrase “Deus Vult,” which means “God wills it.”
Readers asked PolitiFact whether Hegseth’s tattoos barred him from serving in the National Guard during President Joe Biden’s January 2021 inauguration. Hegseth has multiple tattoos, and two are of an image and a phrase often associated with extremist groups: athis year that his National Guard service orders were revoked before Biden’s inauguration because of his Jerusalem cross tattoo, which he described as"a Christian symbol.
Christianity and religious history experts told PolitiFact the Jerusalem cross and the phrase"Deus Vult" are rooted in the Crusades, which were a series of religious wars between Christians and Muslims. The symbols have modern-day ties to far-right and white supremacist groups.Both the Jerusalem cross and the phrase"Deus Vult" date to the 11th century when the Crusades began, experts said.
However, both are popular among right-wing extremist groups, experts said. Flags bearing the crusader cross and the phrase"Deus Vult" were flown during aThe Jerusalem cross and"Deus Vult" are"an invocation of the claim that crusader violence and its atrocities was legitimate," said Tom Hill, president and executive director of the Center for Peace Diplomacy, a nonpartisan organization working to end and prevent wars.
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