The tattooed Secretary of Defense: Here is all of Pete Hegseths ink, and what it means

Plenty of ink to seal the deal with.President-Elect Donald Trump controversial Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth is a war veteran, double Ivy Leaguer, a two-time Bronze Star recipient – and is covered in tattoos.The “Fox and Friends” presenter, 44, served tours in Afghanistan and Iraq and holds degrees from both Princeton and Harvard.Hegseth’s father warned him off tattoos in his youth, so he only started indulging in them in his late 30s, he told the Big Lead. The short timeframe has not stopped the would-be Pentagon chief from catching up: Hegseth now sports over a dozen tattoos on his right arm and across his chest – including a few that have already sparked controversy.Hegseth’s most well-known tattoo is probably the large Jerusalem Cross on his chest.The symbol made up of one large cross with four small crosses around it dates back to the Crusades, but has more recently been linked to problematic Christian nationalists.The ink made headlines in 2021, when Hegseth was one of several National Guard members ordered to stand down from Joe Biden’s inauguration.During a podcast interview, Hegseth claimed that he was axed due to his Jerusalem Cross tattoo. “I was deemed an extremist because of a tattoo by my National Guard unit in Washington D.C.and my orders were revoked to guard the Biden inauguration,” he said.“My commander called me a day before tepidly and was like Major you can just stand down.

We don’t need you, we’re good.I’m like what do you mean, everybody’s there.

He said, like, no no no…he couldn’t tell me.”Hegseth also has the words “Deus Vult,” Latin for “God will it,” on his bicep.The phrase is the closing sentence of his book, “American Crusade.”Similar to the Jerusalem Cross, the “Deus Vult” is linked to the First Crusade in the early 1000s, when it was supposedly a battle cry for Christian invaders.Hegseth’s arm features a cross with a sword that references the New Testament verse Matthe...