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Society & Culture
Foreign Policy
Pete Hegseth
U.S. Military
War

“Hegseth is interesting because he is the first potential cabinet secretary in almost a century to wed unambiguously Protestant Christianity with his understanding of warmaking.” - Providence

Discussion

Thu, 01/16/25

Worth reading, but if you’re in a hurry, the final paragraph sums up well…

If Hegseth’s Greco-Roman-Christian soldiers are meant to create a traditionalist Christian clique to overthrow liberal government, his effort will likely be ineffective and unpopular. But if Hegseth can lead Western militaries and politicos towards defending a truly liberal West, formed by Christianity but enacting broad religious toleration among other foundational civil liberties, he’ll be a truly transformative leader credited with reorienting and restoring Western warmaking to its ultimate mission of defending human liberty.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

Fri, 01/17/25

....about Hegseth, because the breakups of his first two marriages and various other things to do with the two nonprofits he is said to have run into the ground suggest an impulsiveness, lack of self-control, and perhaps even addiction to alcohol--things that could make him susceptible to "honey trap" tactics.

But that noted, it is encouraging to see someone who actually sees the role of a soldier as to win wars and defend liberty. The possible weakness--see my comments above--is that Hegseth, in his impulsiveness, might miss some things that help win wars. A key factor, IMO, is the reality that one historic reason the U.S. has won wars is the relatively better discipline our soldiers had--you did not need to worry about your wife and daughters nearly as much when the U.S. Army came to town as you did when the Red Army did, to draw a picture.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.