Is it woke to wash your hands? Pete Hegseth seems to think so. Back in 2019 when he was still just a Fox News host rather than the guy in charge of “the Department of War”, Hegseth said on-air that he hadn’t washed his hands for 10 years because “germs are not a real thing.” He added: “I can’t see them; therefore, they’re not real.”

Hegseth later claimed he was joking. But even if he was, the defense secretary is never going to be able to wash the blood from his hands. The 45-year-old, one of the strongest backers of the war on Iran, has said he wants “maximum lethality, not tepid legality” to the be the hallmark of the US military, and he’s been making good on that promise. Under his watch, a defense department program aimed at reducing civilian harm has been dismantled, and experts who provide guidance on keeping military operations in line with international law have been fired. And, of course, a school full of little girls has been bombed.

Hegseth doesn’t just have a dangerous disregard for rules of engagement, which he’s called “stupid”; he’s brought a disturbing level of bloodlust to his so-called Department of War. The pundit-turned-politician seems to take great delight in violence, imbuing it with a religious righteousness. On Wednesday, for example, Hegseth prayed for violence (as you do) during a Christian worship service held at the Pentagon. “Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation,” Hegseth said in the prayer service. “Give them wisdom in every decision … and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”

The Trump administration has framed the war on Iran as a fight against dangerous extremists who want to bring about end times. “We’re fighting religious fanatics who seek a nuclear capability in order for some religious Armageddon,” Hegseth said of Iranian leaders during a CBS interview, for example. But the religious fanatics are hardly just in Iran, are they? Increasingly they’re at the highest levels of US government. Hegseth is affiliated with the Congregation of Reformed Evangelical Churches, founded by Doug Wilson, who........

© The Guardian