Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth railed against what he referred to as the “Godless left” and praised “Western Christian” values and traditions in a headliner speech Thursday night time at a Christian communicators convention in Tennessee.
“Under the leadership of President Trump, the military once again supports and trains our troops and tends to their spiritual health. You see, we train our troops, we no longer trans our troops,” Hegseth mentioned to massive applause from the gang on the National Religious Broadcasters 2026 International Christian Media Convention in Nashville.
One of the primary efforts undertaken by the Trump administration after taking workplace final January was to ban transgender people from becoming a member of the army, and take away transgender individuals who have been at present serving in uniform.
“Gone is Godless and divisive DEI, gone is gender-bending equity and quotas, gone is climate change worship to a false God. We are one military, one fighting force, one nation under God. We are not in woke we trust, we are in God we trust,” he mentioned.
Alexis Wilkins, a rustic singer and girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel, sang the National Anthem simply earlier than Hegseth’s tackle.
Since changing into Defense secretary greater than a 12 months in the past, Hegseth has routinely damaged from precedent with previous protection secretaries who largely shied away from political commentary in public. On Thursday, he advised the convention’s crowd that “the other side is fueled by godless and toxic ideologies, foreign to the western way of life, with tolerant hearts filled with rage and hate.”
Throughout the speech, Hegseth touched on lots of his signature tradition conflict speaking factors, together with remedy of transgender service members; local weather change; abortion; and the ending of range, fairness, and inclusion. Hegseth’s tackle got here on the heels of a go to by self-described Christian nationalist preacher Doug Wilson to the Pentagon for a part of the army’s month-to-month Christian prayer service. Hegseth is probably the most outstanding follower of Wilson’s in the Trump administration.
Hegseth talked about the month-to-month prayer providers on Thursday and mentioned the “left wing shrieks, which means we’re right over the target.”
The convention on Thursday included a ceremonial coloration guard from the a hundred and first Airborne Division’s band, in accordance to a launch from NRB. Ceremonial help by the army can sometimes be requested for civic, enterprise or neighborhood occasions. A US Army web page for requesting ceremonial help from the Army Military District of Washington, for instance, says spiritual providers and occasions “detrimental to the interests or values of the armed forces” will not be licensed for help.
The 101st Airborne Division didn’t reply to questions from NCS on Thursday concerning the occasion.