Trump the savior-king
The president, just as the Christian Reconstructionists intended, sits at the top of a violent system as the mouthpiece of a silent, abusive God.
Pete Hegseth may be the first Secretary of Defense whose tattoos have made headlines. In May 2020, he posted a photo on Instagram featuring the Latin phrase inked onto his right bicep: Deus Vult, meaning, “God wills it.”
“Deus Vult” was the medieval Christian crusaders’ battle cry. During the Crusades, Christians killed those who refused to convert, especially their Muslim Ottoman enemies, as they fought to conquer Jerusalem. White supremacists shouted the phrase as they marched on Charlottesville in 2017, and one January 6th rioter waved a white flag emblazoned with a red Jerusalem cross and the words “Deus Vult” as he approached the Capitol building. Seeing the phrase on the arm of the Secretary of Defense disturbed medieval scholars, who understood it as “a call to religious violence.” They saw it as clear evidence that Hegseth is “a Crusader fanboy.”
Of course, Hegseth denies the link to any negative connotations his political rivals can dream up. But in his 2020 MAGA tome, American Crusade, he frequently references the medieval Crusades, and he urges the religious right to engage in a new “holy war.” He even nicknames Donald Trump “our Crusader in chief” and hints at his willingness to engage in future violence: “Our American Crusade is not about literal swords, and our fight is not with guns. Yet.” Hegseth claims that these statements are metaphors.
