Pete Hegseth

Revenge, Drinking, Insider Trading

Pope Leo – “Your Hands are full of blood”

Byline Times, Heidi Cuda, April 4, 2026 – Hot Type: ‘Your Hands Are Full of Blood’ — Pope Leo’s Smackdown to the Trump Regime – Byline political columnist Heidi Siegmund Cuda talks to veteran reporter and religious liberty campaigner Tom Carter about the wildest standoff in the West, Pope Leo vs Donald Trump

Seeks Revenge Against Those He Disagrees With

“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, removing the Army’s top officer in the latest shake-up of military leadership amid the war in Iran.” [MS.now, Ebony Davis and Julia Jester, April 2, 2026 – Hegseth fires Army’s top general – Army Chief of Staff Randy George and two other generals are the latest of more than a dozen senior military leaders fired by the Defense secretary.]

Drinking Problem?

Multiple allegations and claims about heavy drinking have surfaced over the years.

A sworn affidavit from a former family member alleged “regular” alcohol abuse and episodes of extreme intoxication. Reports during his nomination said colleagues at Fox News were concerned about his drinking habits. Investigative reporting and whistleblower accounts have also described instances of intoxication in professional settings. [Jack Reed US Senator, January 22, 2025 – Reed Statement on Abuse Allegations Against Pete Hegseth]

These issues became a major topic during his Senate confirmation, where he faced scrutiny over “excessive alcohol use” allegations.

Getting Rich While Killing People?

“Now we have a bombshell report from the Financial Times that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s broker tried to invest for him millions in major defense companies in the weeks before the war started—presumably so Hegseth could profit financially from the imminent shedding of American soldiers’ blood.” [The New Republic, Timothy Noah, March 31, 2026 – Is Pete Hegseth Killing Iranians to Get Rich? – The defense secretary’s broker allegedly sought a stake in major defense companies in the weeks before the bombing began—just the latest example of potential insider trading on the war.]

References:

• Financial Times, Paul Murphy and Harriet Agnew in London, Joshua Franklin in New York and James Politi in Washington, March 31, 2026 – Pete Hegseth’s broker looked to buy defence fund before Iran attack – Morgan Stanley wealth manager approached BlackRock about multimillion-dollar investment for US defence secretary

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Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism–and What Comes Next

The insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, was not a blip or an aberration. It was the logical outcome of years of a White evangelical subculture’s preparation for war. Religion scholar and former insider Bradley Onishi maps the origins of White Christian nationalism and traces its offshoots in Preparing for War. This paperback edition includes a new preface from the author that speaks to the contemporary currents of White Christian nationalism.

Combining his own experiences in the youth groups and prayer meetings of the 1990s with an immersive look at the steady blending of White grievance politics with evangelicalism, Onishi crafts an engrossing account of the years-long campaign of White Christian nationalism that led to January 6. How did the rise of what Onishi calls the New Religious Right, between 1960 and 2015, give birth to violent White Christian nationalism during the Trump presidency and beyond? What propelled some of the most conservative religious communities in the country–communities of which Onishi was once a part–to ignite a cold civil war?

Through chapters on White supremacy and segregationist theologies, conspiracy theories, the Christian-school movement, purity culture, and the right-wing media ecosystem, Onishi pulls back the curtain on a subculture that birthed a movement and has taken a dangerous turn. In taut and unsparing prose, Onishi traces the migration of many White Christians to Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming in what is known as the American Redoubt. Learning the troubling history of the New Religious Right and the longings and logic of White Christian nationalism is deeply alarming. It is also critical for preserving the shape of our democracy for years to come.

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Recommended Reading

Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler: Making A Serious Comparison by Horace Bloom

How dare you compare Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler! Haven’t you heard of Godwin’s Law?

Let’s talk about this. There’s a cultural taboo against considering Nazi ideology in the context of present day politics. Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler by Horace Bloom confronts this taboo with responsibility, entering into a serious examination of the political histories of the Third Reich and our own time. Bloom’s work isn’t a diatribe, but carefully pays attention to both the similarities and differences between Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler, and the contexts in which they have risen to power.

With the spread of political violence in the United States, and growing extremism in the 2016 presidential election, the comparison between Trump and Hitler has become unavoidable. However, a presidential candidate as breathtakingly original as Donald Trump deserves more than just a snigger here and a snide remark there. Horace Bloom delivers a powerful review of the relevance of the darkest days the 20th century to the essential decisions we are faced with in our own time.

Don’t cast your vote in the 2016 presidential election without confronting the complex web of connections between Trump and Hitler.