Religious fanatics with military training.
By Bruce Gourley
Editor
Church & State Magazine
American democracy’s darkest day in modern times — the Jan. 6, 2021, Christian Nationalist domestic terrorist insurrection — was effectively led by U.S. military service persons, whether active or veterans. Clothed in tactical gear, armed, marching in formation and numbering in the hundreds, they spearheaded the breach of the U.S. Capitol and the hunt to execute certain congresspersons and Vice President Mike Pence. To date more than 200 Jan. 6 domestic terrorists with military backgrounds have been arrested. Marines, active and veteran combined, are the most represented military branch among those arrested.
Shedding yet more light on the Jan. 6 domestic terrorists, the Center for Policy and Research at Seton Hall University School of Law in 2023 released an in-depth report titled “The Jan. 6 Insurrectionists: Who They Are and What They Did.” Examining insurrectionists prosecuted in the first year following the assault on the U.S. Capitol, the report revealed that 92% were white, 83% were men, 25% were armed, 22% had a criminal record and nearly 20% had a background in law enforcement or the military. More than half of active or retired military service members assaulting the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 were collectively affiliated with the militant, Christian Nationalist-oriented, white supremacist groups Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and Three Percenters.
A more recent study from the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland determined that 18% of the Jan. 6 domestic terrorists had military backgrounds.
The day after the Jan. 6 domestic terrorist attack — a coup attempt supported by then-president Donald Trump and barely thwarted by law enforcement and National Guard forces — military and intelligence officers were alerted to a Guard member who worked as a Fox News host. Pete Hegseth, the Guard member in question, sported a tattoo common among white supremacists. Depicting the Latin words “Deus vult” — “God wills it” — the tattoo image depicted a Christian battle cry from the First Crusade of the Middle Ages, a maxim popular among present-day white supremacist groups, including the Proud Boys and Three Percenters. Few members of the military community, however, hold such extremist views. Concerned, Hegseth’s superiors pulled him back from Guard duty during incoming President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
Perceiving himself as being targeted for his extremist views, Hegseth angrily resigned from the National Guard.
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