No stranger to controversy, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has left many people scratching their heads after comments he made at the Pentagon recently.
While appearing to quote scripture, Hegseth instead mentioned a famous monologue from the movie Pulp Fiction, with listeners unsure whether he made a mistake or was intentionally engaging in a bit of religious trolling.
Hegseth roasted for quoting a fake Bible verse from ‘Pulp Fiction’
During a Pentagon prayer breakfast on Wednesday, Hegseth discussed the recent rescue of a downed American pilot in Iran during the ongoing conflict. Hegseth then recited what he claimed was a prayer that had been said by the leader of the Combat Search and Rescue mission to rescue the pilot. As first reported by the Christian newsletter A Public Witness, Hegseth labeled the “prayer” as “CSAR 25:17” and claimed that it was based off the biblical passage of Ezekiel 25:17. However, the actual words Hegseth recited veer far from the biblical text, more closely matching the misquoted version of Ezekiel 25:17 delivered by Samuel L. Jackson’s assassin character in a famous monologue from the movie Pulp Fiction.
It’s unclear whether Hegseth realized the quote’s movie origin or how the words of the prayer were relayed to him. Many people online, however, have viewed it as a blunder on the secretary’s part. ‘Wow this is embarrassing!” social media pundit and podcast host Ed Krassenstein posted on X, formerly Twitter, with videos of Hegseth reading the prayer and a Pulp Fiction clip merged with Hegseth’s reading.
“Who do you think pulled it off better? Hegseth or Samuel L. Jackson?” online political commentator Mario Nawfal asked.
“This would be a two or three week news story in a previous administration, and might even lead to the resignation of the defense secretary,” journalist Medhi Hasan posted. “He literally fabricated a Biblical quote, based off of a movie, while pretending to be a pious Christian. But under Trump, we’ll have moved on by tomorrow.”
Hegseth and Trump use Christianity to promote their right-wing agenda
Hegseth, a military veteran and former Fox News host, has come under scrutiny for his right-wing views and questions about his competence. He survived calls for his resignation after sharing sensitive plans for military operations with members of his family and accidentally with a journalist as well. Before being confirmed as the secretary of defense, Hegseth was grilled over his sparse qualifications and his vocal calls to eliminate “woke DEI s**t” from the armed forces, and his tenure has seen multiple instances of Black people and women in the military being fired from positions of leadership or passed over for promotions. Hegseth has also been criticized for promoting Christian nationalism, a far-right political ideology that uses Christianity to promote right-wing domestic policies and aggressive foreign policy.
Hegseth’s fake Bible quote comes as the Trump administration has made several questionable and offensive statements relating to Christianity. President Donald Trump has publicly clashed with Pope Leo XIV, criticizing the leader of the Catholic Church over the pope’s criticisms of the president’s immigration policies and foreign wars. The president also created controversy among Christians by posting an image generated by artificial intelligence that seemed to depict Trump as Jesus miraculously healing a man; Trump later deleted the image, bizarrely claiming that he thought it showed him as a doctor. Meanwhile, members of Hegseth’s Department of Defense reportedly had a tense meeting with Vatican officials, with members of the Catholic Church delegation perceiving the Trump administration officials as threatening them.
Now, Hegseth appears to have either purposely referenced a fake Bible quote to make a political point or troll listeners, or he didn’t know the difference between the Pulp Fiction speech and the biblical verse. Either way, the comment is drawing heat online and highlighting the Trump administration’s questionable uses of religion.
