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Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, has said that leftists are America’s “internal enemies” and suggested a Democratic victory could have ended in a civil war.
Trump named the 44-year-old veteran and former Fox News host as his nominee for secretary of defense earlier this month. Now, The Guardian reports the man who could lead the Pentagon once wrote in 2020 that the U.S. might undergo “civil war” if Democrats won.
In his book American Crusade, Hegseth laid out “the strategy we must employ in order to defeat America’s internal enemies” and called on the GOP to “mock, humiliate, intimidate, and crush our leftist opponents.”
“America will decline and die,” Hegseth wrote, referring to a now-moot future where the Joe Biden won the election, according to The Guardian. “A national divorce will ensue. Outnumbered freedom lovers will fight back.”
The U.S. armed forces are similarly-minded freedom lovers who would have to “make a choice,” he continued. If confirmed, Hegseth would lead the Pentagon and assume the second-most powerful position in the military’s chain of command.
“The military and police, both bastions of freedom-loving patriots, will be forced to make a choice,” Hegseth wrote. “It will not be good. Yes, there will be some form of civil war.”
John Whitehouse, news director at Media Matters for America told The Guardian the veteran has “always given off a proto-fascist vibe.”
“The thing that appealed to him was going into Iraq as a crusader, and when that went wrong he started looking at America through the same lens,” Whitehouse told the outlet.
The Independent has contacted Trump’s transition team for comment.
In the days since Trump tapped him to lead the Pentagon, allegations against Hegseth of sexual misconduct and white supremacist associations have come to light.
Hegseth was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in Monterey, California in 2017. The woman said Hegseth took her phone, blocked the door to a hotel room and refused to let her leave before assaulting her, according to a police report of the incident released Wednesday.
The veteran has denied all wrongdoing.
“The matter was fully investigated and I was completely cleared,” he said of the incident.
Meanwhile, Hegseth has the phrase “Deus Vult” tattooed on his bicep, which has been used by white supremacists. “Deus Vult” is Latin for “God Wills It,” and was a rallying cry for Christian crusaders in the Middle Ages.
The tattoo previously resulted in Hegseth being flagged as a possible “Insider Threat” by a fellow service member due to its associations with white supremacy, the Associated Press reported.
“Mr. Hegseth has the necessary experience and qualifications to implement President Trump’s pro-America policies, and none of these left-wing media concocted falsehoods will work to stop that mission,” Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, previously said in a statement regarding the tattoo.
