Pete Hegseth, the Army National Guard veteran and Fox News host nominated by Donald Trump to lead the Department of Defense, was flagged as a possible “Insider Threat” by a fellow service member due to a tattoo that’s associated with white supremacist groups.
Deus Vult https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_vult
Adoption by right-wing groups as slogan
Deus vult has been adopted as a slogan by a variety of Christian right and Christian nationalist groups,[7][25] as well as alt-right and white supremacist groups.[6][8] This usage was disseminated widely online,[8] through hashtags and internet memes.[6] Crusader memes (such as an image of a Knight Templar accompanied by the caption “I’ll see your jihad and raise you one crusade”) are popular on far-right internet pages.[26] It is one of several pieces of Crusader imagery used by groups characterized in The Washington Post as far-right Christian nationalists and dominionists.[25] One perspective is that racist movements co-opt the slogans and iconography of the European medieval period, to evoke a fantasy of a “pure” white European heritage, a nostalgic view that is historically inaccurate, and has been denounced by medievalist scholars[who?] as a gross distortion of history.[6][8][dubious – discuss]
The “Deus vult” slogan has been used by perpetrators of right-wing terrorism; it was repeatedly used by the perpetrator of the 2017 Quebec City mosque shooting[27] and was one of the tattoos on the body of the perpetrator of the 2023 Allen, Texas outlet mall shooting.[28] Deus Vult was among the slogans and symbols used during the violent far-right riot in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.[29]
The slogan, as well as other Knights Templar imagery, has also been associated with far-right subgroups in the U.S. that merge Christian nationalism with gun culture; a Florida gun manufacturer engraved the slogan on its “Crusader” model of AR-15-style rifle.[30] The motto is also used by Christian nationalist groups in Europe; the phrase was portrayed on large banners carried by unspecified groups characterized by The Guardian as far-right marchers in 2017 in Warsaw, Poland.[25][31][32] American television host Pete Hegseth, who is set to be appointed by President-elect Donald Trump as Secretary of Defense, has a “Deus Vult” tattoo on his right arm.[33]