‘Democrats think this is Swastika’: Row over chest tattoo of Trump’s secretary of defense Pete Hegseth – Times of India

Pete Hegseth’s chest tattoo is at the center of a major controversy.

The chest tattoo of Pete Hegseth picked by Donald Trump as his Secretary of Defense has kicked up a row on social media as many called it a ‘Swastika’. Hegseth, a former Fox News host, has many other tattoos and these tattoos are not the only reasons, the choice is met with surprise, shock and doubt. The same chest tattoo was the reason why he was not allowed to work security at President Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration as the military higher-ups believed the tattoo might have been an extremist symbol.
“I was deemed an extremist because of a tattoo ― by my National Guard unit in Washington, DC,” Hegseth said on “The Shawn Ryan Show” podcast a few months ago. “And my orders were revoked to guard the Biden inauguration. Jerusalem cross tattoo, it’s just a Christian symbol … [that] is what got me disinvited.”

What is the tattoo?

A symbol of Christianity — the tattoo is an image of the Jerusalem cross with four smaller crosses in the corners. Another tattoo on his biceps reads ‘deus vult’ (God wills it). This is also not above controversy as it was a battle cry to “take back the Holt Land and to slaughter Muslims”.
“Trump’s secretary of defense…are we supposed to pretend that isn’t a SWASTIKA???” one post read. “Democrats think this is a Swastika,” a counter one read.

“lol, you know he’s got a swastika tattooed somewhere no one can see. Fox News village idiot and the new secretary of defense!” another post read.
Hegseth was commissioned as an Army National Guard infantry officer in 2003. He served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He joined Fox News as a contributor in 2014 and is a co-host of Fox and Friends Weekends and Fox Nation. He wrote multiple books including bestseller The War or Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.
According to his Fox News bio, he has a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He also did a graduation from Princeton University. Hegseth lives with his wife and seven children in the southern state of Tennessee.