US Defense Secretary Hegseth wants to overthrow China’s government, in ‘crusade’ against left (and Islam)

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is a self-declared “crusader” who believes the United States is in a “holy war” against the left, China, and Islam.

In his 2020 book American Crusade: Our Fight to Stay Free, Hegseth vowed that, if Trump could return to the White House and Republicans could take power, “Communist China will fall—and lick its wounds for another two hundred years”.

Hegseth declared that the Chinese “are literally the villains of our generation”, and warned, “If we don’t stand up to communist China now, we will be standing for the Chinese anthem someday”.

In Hegseth’s conspiratorial worldview, Chinese communists and the international left are conspiring with Islamists against the United States and Israel, which are sacred countries blessed by God.

Under Trump’s leadership, Hegseth promised, “Israel and America will form an even tighter bond, fighting the scourge of Islamism and international leftism that will never fully abate”.

“Islamists will never get a nuclear weapon but will be preemptively bombed back to the 700s when they try”, he added.

In the book, Hegseth heaped praise upon the medieval Crusaders, and he argued that Western conservatives in the 21st century should continue the holy war they started a millennium ago.

One of his chapters is titled “Make the Crusade Great Again”.

On the first page of the book, Hegseth proudly said his “American crusade” is a “holy war”, and he insisted that leftists are not “mere political opponents. We are foes. Either we win, or they win—we agree on nothing else”.

Hegseth also stated with certainty that there will soon be a civil war in the United States, between the right and left.

“Yes, there will be some form of civil war. It’s a horrific scenario that nobody wants but would be difficult to avoid”, he wrote. He asserted that there are “irreconcilable differences between the Left and the Right in America leading to perpetual conflict that cannot be resolved through the political process”, and he predicted a “national divorce”.

Pete Hegseth says the US is “prepared” for war with China

As defense secretary, Pete Hegseth has pushed for extremely aggressive policies against Beijing.

In March 2025, Hegseth told Fox News that the United States is “prepared” to go to war with China.

In a speech he gave to the US armed forces a few days after assuming his role in January, Hegseth pledged, “We will remain the strongest and most lethal force in the world”.

In another address in February, he expressed his commitment to “making our military once again into the most lethal, badass force on the planet”.

Donald Trump discovered Hegseth because he worked at Fox News for a decade, starting in 2014. He was a co-host of the conservative talk show Fox & Friends.

Although he cynically portrays himself as a “populist”, Hegseth has an extremely elite résumé. He studied at Princeton University and worked as a stock market analyst for the Wall Street investment bank Bear Stearns (which collapsed in the 2008 financial crisis). He later did a Master’s degree at the blue-blooded Harvard Kennedy School, which has trained a Who’s Who of the global political class.

Before Trump’s first term, Hegseth was just another cookie-cutter neoconservative Republican. In fact, he was such a mouth-foaming hawk, and he so strongly supported the illegal invasion of Iraq, that he volunteered to fight there for the US Army.

Hegseth worked for a year at the US internment camp at Guantánamo Bay, in occupied Cuban territory. When he served there, brutal torture was being carried out by the George W. Bush administration.

As defense secretary, Hegseth has defended Trump’s decision to deport undocumented immigrants to Guantánamo Bay. He visited the internment camp and posed for a Pentagon photo op to support the policy.

Pete Hegseth’s extremist theocratic views

Pete Hegseth is closely linked to an extremist Christian nationalist church that preaches that the United States should follow biblical law.

Hegseth’s church is a member of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, which believes that the LGBT community should be criminalized. Some of its prominent members argue that women should lose the right to vote, and have even spoken positively of slavery.

Hegseth has numerous tattoos associated with Christian extremist and white nationalist movements, including one of the “Crusader’s Cross” and another that says “Deus vult”, or “God wills it” in Latin. This slogan was used during the Crusades.

His 2020 book American Crusade: Our Fight to Stay Free is a 21st-century call to continue the original Crusades, albeit against the political left this time.

Over half of the nearly 300-page book was dedicated to attacking the left. Of the 14 chapters, nine are about what he calls “leftism”.

Hegseth attacked the left for socialism, secularism, multiculturalism, environmentalism, and so-called “genderism” and “globalism”.

He also bizarrely associated the left with Islamism, which he called “the most dangerous ‘ism'”. Hegseth spent an entire chapter demonizing Islam.

In his delirious fever dreams, leftists and Islamists are part of a global conspiracy to destroy the United States.

“Next to the communist Chinese and their global ambitions, Islamism is the most dangerous threat to freedom in the world”, Hegseth wrote.

Pete Hegseth’s crusade against China

In American Crusade, Hegseth denounced “our largest geopolitical foe, communist China”.

He mentioned China and the Chinese 110 times in the book.

The Chinese “are literally the villains of our generation”, Hegseth wrote.

He quoted Trump, who said in 2019, “China is a threat to the world in a sense, because they’re building a military faster than anybody”.

“Even Mickey Mouse would understand that the communist Chinese government and its economic engine are a threat and we must compel our companies to stop enabling them with American technology”, Hegseth argued. “We must bring the companies back home to America, coercively if necessary”.

“China has a dream—it’s called the Chinese dream—and it ends with the reestablishment of the former Chinese Empire”, he claimed.

Hegseth declared that, through so-called “globalism”, China is waging a “technological war, cultural war, trade war, and military war”.

“If we don’t stand up to communist China now, we will be standing for the Chinese anthem someday”, he insisted.

Hegseth’s argument was deeply contradictory. He warned that China is a powerful and growing threat, but he simultaneously insisted that it is weak and fragile.

“The Chinese economy is fake because it’s not free, yet powerful—built through theft, intimidation, and the weakness of China’s opponents”, Hegseth wrote.

US trade dependence on China is “a massive national security issue; an emergency, really”, he wrote. He insisted that the United States should stop trading with China, maintaining, “You cannot trade fairly with an enemy that lies, cheats, and steals”.

This quote was deeply ironic, considering the CIA director and secretary of state in Trump’s first term was neoconservative Mike Pompeo, who infamously declared, “I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole. We had entire training courses”.

In his book, Hegseth claimed there is rampant “Chinese influence in American media and universities”, fearmongering about Walt Disney and Confucius Institutes.

“Does any sane American actually think communist China is our friend? Anyone? Of course not!” Hegseth wrote. He added, “Except for communism-loving Bernie Sanders and his ‘bros,’ commonsense Americans understand what China represents”.

Hegseth predicted that, if the Democrats won the 2020 US election, “Leftism will enslave us all with big government until it’s enslaved by Islamism”, and “there will be some form of civil war”.

He claimed that, if Trump lost the 2020 election, “Communist China will rise—and rule the globe. Europe will formally surrender. Islamists will get nuclear weapons and seek to wipe America and Israel off the map. Freedom will fade, tyranny will rise”.

Trump did end up losing the 2020 election, and none of that happened.

Nevertheless, Hegseth predicted that, if Trump and the Republicans came back to power, “Our free-market economy will flourish, while China will not be able to cheat and compete—just like the Soviet Union”. He wrote triumphantly, “Socialism, defeated”.

He continued:

Communist China will fall—and lick its wounds for another two hundred years. Europe will still surrender, but pockets of freedom-loving resisters will remain. Islamists will never get a nuclear weapon but will be preemptively bombed back to the 700s when they try. Israel and America will form an even tighter bond, fighting the scourge of Islamism and international leftism that will never fully abate.

Pete Hegseth: The US and Israel are waging a “crusade” to save the West

Pete Hegseth’s entire worldview is opposed to the left. In American Crusade, he stated that his ideology is “Americanism”, which he defined as “an unapologetic allegiance to the founding ideals of the United States of America”. He emphasized that Americanism is “the opposite of leftism”.

“Another way to define Americanism is American nationalism”, Hegseth added. He proudly identified himself and Trump as American nationalists, arguing that the United States is “the only true bastion of freedom on the planet”.

At the same time, however, Hegseth’s concept of “Americanism” is international. He sees other far-right nationalist movements in the West as allies in a global civilizational struggle against China, the left, and Islam.

“Americanism is alive in places such as Poland, which reject the globalist visions of leftist bureaucrats in old Europe”, Hegseth wrote, adding, “Regrettably, we have more in common with those international freedom fighters then we do with modern American Democrats”.

“Americanism is alive in Israel, where Benjamin Netanyahu boldly stands against international anti-Semitism and Islamism”, he wrote.

“If you love America, you should love Israel”, he asserted. “Israel is enemy number one for both Islamists and international leftists— which is reason alone to love it”.

Defense Secretary Hegseth met with Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu in February 2025. The Pentagon readout noted that the “Secretary emphasized the unbreakable bond that exists between the United States and Israel and praised Israel as a model ally in the Middle East”.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in February 2025

In American Crusade, Hegseth boasted that he had visited Israel several times.

He mentioned Israel and Israelis 54 times in the book.

To learn about Israeli history, he recommended that his readers watch videos from the right-wing YouTube channel PragerU.

“For us as American Crusaders, Israel embodies the soul of our American Crusade”, Hegseth wrote. “Faith, family, freedom, and free enterprise; if you love those, learn to love the state of Israel”.

According to Hegseth, the United States is leading a civilizational battle, in alliance with Israel. He implored Christians today to continue the Crusades started in the 11th century.

He wrote:

Simply put: if you don’t understand why Israel matters and why it is so central to the story of Western civilization—with America being its greatest manifestation—then you don’t live in history. America’s story is inextricably linked to Judeo-Christian history and the modern state of Israel.

“We Christians—alongside our Jewish friends and their remarkable army in Israel—need to pick up the sword of unapologetic Americanism and defend ourselves. We must push Islamism back”, he added.

At the same time, Hegseth acknowledged that his extremist views had caused him to lose friends.

“In this cause, I’ve lost friends. Many”, he wrote. “Some members of my extended family have no interest in speaking with me, and the feeling is mutual. People I used to admire send me nasty letters and emails telling me what a terrible person I am”.

Pete Hegseth: “We must fight back against the evil forces of secularism”

Pete Hegseth is a theocratic Christian nationalist. He opposes the separation of church and state and deeply believes that the United States is a Christian nation, and that its laws should be based on the Bible.

“We must fight back against the evil forces of secularism”, Hegseth wrote in American Crusade. He argued, “Our founders would be disgusted with the secularist America of today”.

“Without God, America is not America”, he declared, asserting that the “secularism movement is incompatible with Americanism”.

An entire chapter of his book was dedicated to “defeating the Church of Secularism”.

If Trump and the Republicans can remain in power, Hegseth predicted in 2020, “Abortion will finally and forever be illegal and our government schools either abandoned or fully transformed”.

He insisted that schools should promote “the factually true story of American exceptionalism”.

According to Hegseth, Trump is an important ally in the fight for theocracy.

“President Trump has stemmed the tide of secularism, at least for now”, Hegseth wrote in 2020, during Trump’s first term. “He unabashedly supports faith and fights back against the secular currents long at work in American society”

Trump “has emboldened Christians, including pastors, to be more involved in politics and our culture. He has inspired Crusaders!”, he said.

(This statement is rather comical, given that it is widely known that Trump is not religious. In fact, when asked in an interview what his favorite Bible verse was, Trump was unable to name a single verse. Then, when asked if he preferred the Old or New Testament, Trump said both.)

In American Crusade, Hegseth also identified himself as a big fan of the far-right rapper Kanye West.

“After the election of Donald Trump in 2016, one of the most powerful things to happen to our country—and to me—was the Christian conversion of the rapper Kanye West”, Hegseth said in 2020.

“If Kanye is with us, who can be against us?” Hegseth wrote, repeatedly praising the rapper, also known as Ye.

After Hegseth published this book, Kanye West came out as a Nazi and praised Adolf Hitler.

Pete Hegseth’s crusade against Islam

While Hegseth wants the United States to be a Christian theocracy, he is violently opposed not only to Islamism (as a theocratic political movement), but to Islam itself (as a religion).

In American Crusade, Hegseth wrote that “no ‘ism’ is more dangerous to freedom than Islamism is”.

While he acknowledged that many Muslims are not Islamists, and that they consider Islam as a religion distinct from Islamism as a political movement, Hegseth argued that there is essentially no difference.

Hegseth criticized even “regular Muslims”, claiming that they “believe that Islam’s destiny is to control the world”.

In his book, he put quotes around the words “moderate” mosques and “peaceful” Muslims, denying that they can exist.

“Islam is not a religion of peace, and it never has been”, Hegseth declared.

He even unironically used the term “Muslim hordes” in the book, writing:

Next to the communist Chinese and their global ambitions, Islamism is the most dangerous threat to freedom in the world. It cannot be negotiated with, coexisted with, or understood; it must be exposed, marginalized, and crushed. Just like the Christian crusaders who pushed back the Muslim hordes in the twelfth century, American Crusaders will need to muster the same courage against Islamists today.

Demonstrating his ignorance of Islam, Hegseth absurdly likened Iran (a Shia-majority country) to its mortal enemies ISIS and Al-Qaeda, extremist Salafi-jihadist groups that consider Shia Muslims to be heretical polytheists and have sought to exterminate them.

During Trump’s first term, Hegseth went on Fox News to call for Trump to bomb Iran.

In his book, Hegseth told Americans, “If you support gay rights, instead of harassing conservatives, you’d protest outside the Iranian Embassy”. Likewise, he said feminists should stop criticizing sexism in the West and should instead protest outside the Iranian and Saudi embassies.

Hegseth was especially critical of Turkey. He complained that when Turkey was welcomed as a member of NATO in 1951, “Foreign policy types back then believed that allowing it into the club would bring its government closer to the West and our Western values”.

He noted that this “worked for a while but has fallen apart today. Instead, as with China, the opposite has occurred”.

Hegseth condemned Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, because he “decided to reject the secular tradition of his institutions” and “dismantled the NATO-trained army that has long maintained Turkey’s secular institutions”.

In other words, Hegseth opposes secularism in the United States, but supports it in Turkey.

Hegseth also said that Erdoğan “openly dreams of restoring the Ottoman Empire”, writing, “He’s an Islamist with Islamist visions for the Middle East. Yet NATO members have pledged to defend his regime? The last time I checked, that’s not what NATO was about”.