Pete Hegseth Promotes His Pastor’s CNN Spot – and His Call for ‘Christian Domination’
President Donald Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth openly touted his alignment with self-described Christian nationalist Doug Wilson, sharing a new interview that the pastor did with CNN.
Wilson, who is from Idaho and has spent decades building an international network of churches, spoke with CNN investigative journalist Pamela Brown in a report released Friday to share his vision for a theocratic America and how his views are gaining some traction inside the Trump administration and the Pentagon. The segment was shared online by an account that captioned it, “FULL CNN segment on Doug Wilson’s ‘Crusade for Christian Domination in the Age of Trump.'” Hegseth shared that post and added, “All of Christ for All of Life.”
“My views on a number of things have become steadily more mainstream and have done that without me moving at all,” Wilson told the network.
Those views, he told CNN, include a belief in patriarchal society and in repealing the 19th Amendment, which grants women the right to vote. He believes in criminalizing homosexuality and, ultimately, replacing secular democracy with a government ruled by “Christ the King.”
His churches ban women from voting and leadership, CNN reported. He has written about slavery in terms critics describe as revisionist and dangerous.
Wilson denied he was “misogynist” or a “White nationalist” and in the interview defended his embrace of the label Christian nationalist: “I’m not a White nationalist. I’m not a fascist. I’m not a racist. I’m not a misogynist, and those are the names that usually get thrown at me. And then when someone says, well, that’s Christian nationalism, I can – well, I can work with that.”
On Friday, Wilson’s interview was affirmingly shared in full on X by Hegseth to his 1.6 million followers:
Hegseth, CNN reported, is an adherent of Wilson’s theological network, known as the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), and attends the Tennessee church campus.
The Defense Secretary has mentioned Wilson’s name before in podcasts and even brought the pastor in to lead his first monthly Christian prayer service at the Pentagon.
“It’s very encouraging,” Wilson told CNN, praising how Hegseth has “owned what he believes.”
After decades on the religious fringe, Wilson’s church is now expanding into Washington, D.C., reportedly moving into a space owned by the Conservative Partnership Institute, co-led by former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
Despite his proximity to power in the form of the Pentagon chief and new moves in the nation’s capital, Wilson insists his goal is long-term, a global Christian kingdom he believes is still “250 years or so” away.
Watch above on CNN.
