U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has long shown a fascination with the Crusades, including tattoos tied to the medieval wars and a 2020 book, American Crusade, whose final chapter is titled “Make the Crusade Great Again.” [1]
Hegseth has described the Crusades as a defensive war in which Christianity reacted to being threatened by Islam. [1]
Matthew Gabriele, a professor who studies the period, called that view an extreme oversimplification of Crusades history. [1]
The same worldview also informs how Hegseth thinks about modern conflicts, including the war in Iran, according to the facts provided. [1]