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Pentagon Ducks Questions on Hegseth’s Support for Christian Nationalist Pastor’s Beliefs
The U.S. Department of Defense is on the defensive after outrage erupted over Secretary Pete Hegseth’s repost of a CNN video last week featuring the head of his church — a hardline Christian nationalist pastor who says he wants the nation, and ultimately the world, to be ruled by Christianity. Hegseth’s caption: “All of Christ for All of Life.”
Pastor Doug Wilson, according to a CNN video (below), also believes in a patriarchal society where women submit to their husbands, believes homosexuality is a crime and should be re-criminalized, believes women should not have the right to vote and should not hold certain positions of leadership, and that they should not be in combat roles.
“Women are the kind of people that people come out of,” Wilson unapologetically told CNN, specifying: “it doesn’t take any talent to simply reproduce biologically.”
On Thursday, several reporters grilled Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson (full transcript), who also grew defensive when asked to account for her boss’s beliefs.
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Asked by a reporter, “is it your belief and is it the Secretary’s belief that those women, if they are serving, and women across the United States should have the right to vote?”
Wilson responded angrily, telling the reporter, “of course the Secretary thinks that women should have the right to vote. That’s a stupid question.”
That was just the start of the questioning focused on Secretary Hegseth’s support for Pastor Wilson and his beliefs.
“Well, why did he retweet the pastor who does support taking away that right from women?” the reporter asked.
“The Secretary very much appreciates many of Mr. Wilson’s writings and teachings,” the press secretary replied.
“Including taking away the right to vote?” the reporter pressed.
“I’ve already answered that question,” was the response.
“So, including taking away the right to vote?” the reporter again pressed. “You have not been clear. I mean, he retweeted her — or him. Why retweet someone that wants to take away the right to vote?”
“I have been correct on that the Secretary supports the 19th Amendment. Next question,” the press secretary insisted.
When asked if Secretary Hegseth is “in disagreement” with Pastor Wilson, the press secretary would only say that Hegseth “appreciates” many of his pastor’s “writings and teachings.”
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“I’m not going to litigate every single aspect of what he may or may not believe in a certain video,” the press secretary declared.
Later, another reporter brought up the Wilson video, this time diving into more of the pastor’s beliefs.
“What was the point of posting that video? I know you said that he respects him, but you mentioned that all of these women are joining the recruitment. What does a video like that, that mentions women submitting to their husbands, what does that say to women service members? Or we should be a Christian nation like Saudi Arabia is a Muslim nation,” the reporter said, grilling the press secretary. “What does that say to Muslim service members or Jewish service members or people who don’t believe? I mean, what message is that sending as the Secretary of Defense reposting something like that? He’s not just a person; he’s a government official now.”
Press Secretary Wilson was not having it.
“So, I reject the premise of the question. I think what he had said, ‘all of God for all of time’ — I think that is a non-controversial statement.”
The grilling grew more intense, with the reporter diving deeper into some of the beliefs revealed by the CNN profile, and the press secretary refusing to discuss them.
“I’m not going to litigate what he may or may not think about real presence in communion. We’re not going to get down to the nitty gritty on all of that stuff, right. But what I can tell you is that he is a Christian. He appreciates many of Mr. Wilson’s writings and teachings.”
The Daily Beast, reporting on the Pentagon press conference, noted that “Hegseth’s social media promotion of Wilson’s church network, the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches—which Doug Wilson co-founded—came after he railed that the military ‘allowed itself to go woke,’ declaring that generals and admirals ‘involved in any of the DEI woke s— has got to go.'”
The Beast also noted that “high-profile moves have targeted senior women across the services. Last month, Hegseth removed Vice Adm. Yvette Davids, the first woman to lead the U.S. Naval Academy, before the end of her expected term.” Also, “Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield was fired from her NATO billet, and Adm. Linda Fagan—history’s first female service chief—was ousted from the Coast Guard by Homeland Security.”
The crisis created by Hegseth posting the CNN video is not just one of public perception or public relations.
Veterans have told The Guardian, the news outlet reported on Thursday, “that Hegseth’s religiosity – rubbing off in new recruitment ads and official US Department of Defense social media activities – is dividing the ranks and doing untold damage to the future of the US military.”
Watch the video Hegseth reposted below or at this link.
All of Christ for All of Life. https://t.co/QqXhqZFStv
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) August 8, 2025
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Image via Reuters
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Maine Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner is under fire after releasing a video declaring that new allegations against him are false, yet he is “taking time to reflect” on a path forward.
Politico on Monday afternoon reported that a woman who dated Platner, Jenny Racicot, “says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections, an allegation Platner denies.”
“Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner,” Politico reported, “for more than two years before he entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual.”
In a video posted to social media eleven minutes after the Politico story dropped, Platner says, “I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me. Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false.”
He said he and his supporters “were united in a love of Maine, a belief that our politics must change, in a focus on defeating Susan Collins.”
“So, regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful the political reality will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.”
“Those were the goals when we launched this campaign. And they remain my goals today.”
“Throughout it all, you never turned your back on me. And I will not turn my back on you now. Every one of you deserves to see that vision come to fruition and see Susan Collins defeated. And we will use every tool at our disposal to do so.”
The Bulwark’s Tim Miller, a political commentator who served as the communications director for the Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign, blasted Platner.
“I’m sorry but ‘we are taking time to reflect on the best path forward’ is not an option on the table,” Miller wrote. “Either it’s false and you campaign with vigor or it’s true and you get out / apologize to everyone you let down.”
Journalist Ryan Grim, commenting on Platner’s video, noted that Platner “strongly suggests he is considering dropping out. Already Troy Jackson and Chellie Pingree, both gubernatorial candidates, are being kicked around in Maine circles as potential replacements.”
Several others, including Puck News’ Peter Hamby, predicted Platner will be dropping out.
Platner had postponed several campaign events before the Politico story was published.
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) July 6, 2026
President Donald Trump is facing backlash after posting a video of children — including showing their unblurred faces — graduating from kindergarten, with some of the girls purportedly wearing hijabs.
“President Trump posted a captionless video of graduating kindergarteners on Truth Social on Monday, goading his supporters into verbally attacking little children simply for being Muslim,” The New Republic reported. “The clip is from Gateway STEM Academy, a majority-Black K-8 public charter school in St. Paul, Minnesota. It shows about 21 children in caps and gowns on stage singing a song together. Most of the girls are wearing hijabs.”
The original post of the video which Trump reposted reads: “Public school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Every girl is in a hijab … in kindergarten.”
Trump did not add any comments. TNR called the post “Islamophobic, weird, and creepy,” while noting that the comments section of Trump’s post was filled with calls “by racist, xenophobic MAGA supporters” to “deport the children and ban hijabs.”
TNR also noted that it “should come as no surprise that Trump isn’t above attacking children who just learned how to read, but this post is still particularly discomforting—and will certainly contribute to the already potent level of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. and in Minnesota.”
Critics blasted Trump.
“There is something deeply unsettling about the president of the United States—the most powerful person in the world—going after kindergarten schoolchildren in Minnesota because they wore hijabs, as Trump has done this morning on his website,” The Bulwark’s Sam Stein wrote.
One social media commentator wrote, “Trump posted an unblurred video of more than a dozen Muslim kindergartners to Truth Social, exposing the children’s faces while targeting them for their religion.”
Another added, “Trump is a bigot. The president took to Truth Social to attack kindergarteners in hijabs. These are little kids. The president isn’t just a bigot, he’s also a coward.”
The original video was posted to the X social media platform in June.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) at the time commented, “If you are in a public school in America, you should be speaking english.”
Image via Reuters
President Donald Trump’s apparent efforts to delay releasing the $5.8 million civil judgment to E. Jean Carroll are being met with a warning by the journalist’s legal team, who suggest there could be a legal maneuver for Trump to employ to forgo paying the judgment in either of the two cases he lost.
According to The Guardian, on July 4, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered Trump to release the $5.8 million judgment, which is in escrow, to Carroll by this coming Tuesday — or explain why he would not do so.
Carroll’s attorneys think Trump may be trying to buy time to mount another legal strategy, telling the judge that Trump’s request for an extension “appears to be little more than yet another play for time.”
“The case is separate from Trump’s appeal of a Manhattan civil jury’s 2024 award of $83.3m to Carroll for defamation,” The Guardian explains. “But her lawyers have suggested a legal scenario in which the president might seek to conjoin the cases and further delay payment of both.”
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan (no relation to the judge) wrote, “We can only assume that defendant is seeking … to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying plaintiff presumably in connection with his forthcoming petition and motion for a rehearing.”
Trump’s former attorney, Justin Smith, in one of his final acts, wrote to the Supreme Court suggesting that his client would be appealing the $83.3 million civil judgment.
Smith argued that the Supreme Court “may wish to consider the petitions together,” given they involve the same parties.
The larger judgment case involves possible questions of presidential immunity, and that has Carroll’s attorneys concerned.
“A conjoined case, Carroll’s lawyers fear, could result in both judgments being wiped out,” The Guardian reports.
The president has also made clear he is no fan of Judge Kaplan, after the jurist made several rulings that “angered” Trump.
“What else can you expect from a Trump Hating, Clinton appointed judge, who went out of his way to make sure that the result was as negative as it could possible be,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in 2023, “speaking to, and in control of, a jury from an anti-Trump area which is probably the worst place in the US for me to get a fair ‘trial’.”
Image via Reuters
Platner Scorched Over ‘Taking Time’ Video After New Accusation
Trump Sparks Fury Online After Posting Unblurred Video of Muslim Kindergartners in Hijabs
One Legal Maneuver Threatens to Undo Everything E. Jean Carroll Won
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