File:Pete Hegseth chest tattoo cross.jpg

Summary

Pete Hegseth chest tattoo cross

The Cross Jerusalem cross, also known as the Crusader cross: square (unlike the more usual elongated versions of the Christian symbol), and with a smaller square cross in each of the four quadrants.

... while we can’t ever know for sure a true intention or individual interpretation of symbols behind a tattoo, a closer look at the history of these particular images produces an undeniable picture of militant Christianity, drawing on a long history of iconography connected to the Crusades, one of the bloodiest periods of Christian history. It is also a fact that many of these symbols are ubiquitous among far-right communities, seen in events from the Charlottesville rally to the manifesto of the Norwegian far-right shooter Anders Breivik and the engravings on the gun of the Christchurch shooter. But though these symbols have a long lineage, they have only been put together in the way they are seen on Hegseth’s body over the past decade, from around the time of Trump’s first campaign and ever more openly since. Unpeeling the layers of history and meaning shows the tightrope of plausible deniability the far right is walking, with history as their weapon — simultaneously signaling to their supporters and enabling them to deny the implications of Christian nationalism to the rest of the world.

• Pete Hegseth’s Tattoos and the Crusading Obsession of the Far Right @ The symbols sported by Trump’s defense pick reveal how the medieval past is being reimagined by Christian nationalists, behind a shield of plausible deniability