{"id":334,"date":"2026-06-10T10:47:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T10:47:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=334"},"modified":"2026-06-10T10:47:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T10:47:46","slug":"pete-hegseths-mormon-diss-explodes-a-maga-myth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=334","title":{"rendered":"Pete Hegseth\u2019s Mormon diss explodes a MAGA myth"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pete Hegseth is not a coherent thinker. This was demonstrated yet again on the D-Day anniversary event in France, where the defense secretary gave a speech that was supposed to be anti-Nazi but ended up employing a metaphor that made the Nazis sound like the victims in WWII. Hegseth claims he wants military promotions based on merit, but has systematically blocked promotions of people are more qualified than he\u2019ll ever be, for no other seeming reason than they aren\u2019t white men. And, of course, he keeps saying the U.S. has won the Iran war, which still has no end in sight, while also begging for more time and money to wage it.<\/p>\n

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So it\u2019s no surprise that the famously incompetent Donald Trump appointee recently claimed to be \u201csimplifying\u201d the military\u2019s religious coding system, but only ended up sowing unnecessary confusion and rancor. Even more entertainingly, the move backfired \u2014 which was obviously more about Hegseth\u2019s Christian nationalist inclinations than efficiency anyway. In his eagerness to marginalize people of non-Christian faiths, Hegseth accidentally exposed a major MAGA myth: that there\u2019s a coherent, much less peaceful, way to impose their theocratic views on the country. On the contrary, any effort to turn this into a \u201cChristian nation\u201d is destined to reveal the deep divisions between Christian factions, one which are only concealed now because of the secularism Hegseth so despises.<\/p>\n

To recap, for those who missed the furor: the Department of Defense used to recognize 211 separate religious designations for service members, which help shape everything from chaplain services to what marker is put on a tombstone. Under the guise of \u201cstreamlining\u201d services, this number was reduced to 31. Anyone who looked at the new list, however, could see that Hegseth\u2019s unsubtle goal was signaling the superiority of Christians to everyone else. The new list gives Christians 21 subcategories to choose from, but Jews, Muslims and other major religious groups only get one option, ignoring the diversity within those faiths. Atheists, humanists, Wiccans, pagans and other belief systems that the Christian right believes are demonic, were erased entirely.<\/p>\n