Tag: Pete Hegseth

  • Pete Hegseth & Christian Nationalism

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reposted and praised a video interview of a self-described Christian nationalist pastor whose church doesn’t believe women should be allowed to vote.

    Julia Simon

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reposts video of pastors saying women shouldn’t vote (NPR)

    He thinks America should adopt a Christian theocracy. And he’s finding a new audience under Trump (CNN – YouTube)

  • Email Servers and Signal

    I thought this was a good look at how Pete Hegseth’s use of Signal differs from the email server that Hillary Clinton used while Secretary of State. The video is notably before more recent news stories about how Hegseth was also sharing military information in other Signal chats including his family members.

    Signal War Plans v.s. Hillary’s Emails (LegalEagle – YouTube)

    Hegseth had a second Signal chat where he shared details of Yemen strike (AP)

  • Signal Blunder

    Goldberg assumed the chat was fake, some sort of disinformation campaign, although he was concerned when Ratcliffe provided the full name of a CIA operative in this unsecure channel. But on March 14, as Vance, for example, took a strong stand against Europe—“I just hate bailing Europe out again”—and as Hegseth emphasized that their messaging must be that “Biden failed,” Goldberg started to think the chat might be real. Those in the chat talked of finding a way to make Europe pay the costs for the U.S. attack, and of “minimiz[ing] risk to Saudi oil facilities.”

    And then, on March 15, the messages told of the forthcoming attack. “I will not quote from this update, or from certain other subsequent texts,” Goldberg writes. “The information contained in them, if they had been read by an adversary of the United States, could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East, Central Command’s area of responsibility. What I will say, in order to illustrate the shocking recklessness of this Signal conversation, is that the Hegseth post contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.”

    On the chat, reactions to the military strikes were emojis of a fist, an American flag, fire, praying hands, a flexed bicep, and “Good Job Pete and your team!!,” “Kudos to all…. Really great. God Bless,” and “Great work and effects!”

    Heather Cox Richardson

    March 24, 2025 (Letters from an American)

  • Deleting ‘Justice’, ‘Dignity’, and ‘Respect’

    “Justice.” “Dignity.” “Respect.”

    Those words are now considered red flags by the Army as it does a wide-ranging scrub of the massive amount of digital content the service has created online over the years — a purge that is leading to the removal of images and videos featuring women and minority soldiers from official platforms.

    The deletion of photos, video and other content is part of an order by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that all the military services eliminate online material not allowed by the Trump administration. Hegseth has pushed to eliminate any trace of diversity efforts, which has included policies and programs — and now media — that recognizes women and troops with minority backgrounds.

    Steve Beynon

    Army Deleting Online Content Related to Women, Minorities Using Key Words Like ‘Respect’ and ‘Dignity’ (Military.com)