What the Heck is Going on at the Pentagon?

Strange things are going on at the Pentagon.  That’s hardly surprising knowing the U.S. government, but the actions taken under Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have been confounding.  I could mention the fact that the Pentagon is now soliciting car manufacturers to start building weapons, or I could mention how much they were spending on lobster, but neither is the point of this blogpost.  No, the purpose of this blogpost is to discuss the strange religious news that keeps coming from the US’s military.

Most prominently, there was an announcement of lawsuits claiming that various military commanders were saying that Trump had been anointed by God to start Armageddon by invading Iran.  Those who have studied the book of Revelation would know that that’s not how the apocalypse works, and the lack of magisterial sanctioning should be more than enough cause for its rejection.  However this was not the only strange spiritual statement coming from the Pentagon.

This year, Hegseth also had a pastor lead a worship service at the Pentagon, and that same pastor later called for bans on Eucharistic processions for being idolatry.  Also, Pete Hegseth quoted a Bible verse from Pulp Fiction that was only based on a verse from the book of Ezekiel.  So there seems to be a recurring theme of religious fervor at the Pentagon, but none of it is based on a sound foundation.

It would be easier if this could be blamed purely on one cabinet official, but this has expanded beyond the War Department.  For whatever reason, the President decided to post an image of himself as Jesus on social media, and his senior advisor to the White House Faith Office once said “saying no to Trump would be saying no to God.”  So there is a growing spirituality in the White House that seems to idolize the President.

One could wonder why these events are happening.  It’s possible that we may be living in a country where the leader believes himself to be a God, but he has denied as much and claimed the Jesus image was an accident so there’s no direct evidence of that.  It would be easy to write this off as a self-serving manipulation of scripture to serve his agenda, but the line between fanaticism and selfishness has traditionally been a very confusing one.  It’s possible then that there is some genuine attempt at spirituality, though a tragically misguided one.

After all, there has been discussion of the President’s spirituality.  Former Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan once said that Trump takes his faith seriously.  Similarly, the President had created a religious freedom board that included multiple prominent bishops, including Bishop Barron, who has both worked with and opposed him at times, and Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, whose diocese is one of the few in the U.S. that is providing new priests above replacement.  So it’s not as simple to write this off as completely disingenuous unless we doubt the sincerity of these bishops as well.

Also, there are members of his administration who have been outwardly religious and yet not in a self-serving way.  Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy Jr. once said before getting his position that he prays 30 minutes a day.  Similarly, JD Vance converted to Catholicism long before running for senate.  He’s had his contentions with the church, such as his spat with Pope Francis, yet he met with the pope shortly before his passing and has apologized for other spats.  So there is a case that there is sincerity in the faith of these men.

So that does beg the question then as to what might be motivating these strange actions from Washington.  Well, I’m not talking to these people so I couldn’t guess what’s in their hearts.  Still, these have been strange actions indeed and it should cause concern for the average Christian.

Now, before leaving, I’m going to leave advice when navigating these troubled times.  First of all, the book of Psalms warns “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no help.”  All humans are fallible and prone to sin, so putting them as the center of salvation inevitably ends in destruction.  It’s why we need to trust in God above all things.

Second, St. Faustina once wrote that “Satan can even clothe himself in a cloak of humility, but he does not know how to wear the cloak of obedience.” Whatever is said by anyone, a person must always be in obedience to God’s will first and foremost.  When they reject it, it will usually reveal evil and for that reason must be ignored.

Finally, Proverbs 19:21 states “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will be established.”  Whatever we choose to put our support behind, it is God’s  Will that we must prioritize.  So when choosing which side to be on, we should always do our best to prioritize that.  If we abide by those three rules, I think we’ll turn out alright.

Is Marco Rubio Running the White House?

The headline is extremely clickbaity, but it’s a question that might be worth asking.  Since being confirmed as Secretary of State, Marco Rubio has been heavily involved in some of the most important international political events of the still developing 21st century, and his influence only seems to be expanding with each passing day as more situations globally keep developing.  It might be worth investigating how much influence he has, then, and how his role continues to develop.

So to start off with, a little background on Marco Rubio.  Elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010, Rubio would go on to serve on the Senate Committee on Intelligence (where he was the acting chair and then ranking member) and the Committee on Foreign Relations.  He also served on the Committee on Appropriations, which, while not directly dealing with foreign affairs, does have full jurisdiction over all discretionary spending and military spending constitutes 56% of the federal discretionary budget.  So he was very heavily influential in government legislative committees that focused on foreign and military affairs.

Of note, he had a particularly prominent history of supporting military intervention in foreign affairs.  In the senate, he supported the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, supported giving ammunition to Syrian rebels during the civil war under Bashar al-Assad, pushed against establishing diplomatic ties with Cuba during the Obama administration, called for revolution in Venezuela and met with an opposition leader that was accused of attempting a coup by the Maduro government, supported increased military ties with China’s neighbors (and enemies), etc.  Of note, during the 2016 presidential primaries, he was the candidate who called for use of military force third most out of all of them according to the CATO institute (Trump was dead in the center between most calls and least calls).  So he has a history of wanting to use military force to accomplish America’s foreign policy objectives.

This is noticeable because since he’s become Secretary of State and National Security Advisor (the first to hold both positions at the same time since Henry Kissinger back in the 70s), the Trump administration has taken a noticeably more hawkish tone since its first term.  Similarly, many of Rubio’s policy agendas when he was in the senate have been coming to fruition.  During his tenure as Secretary of State, the US has captured now former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, placed an oil embargo on Cuba while talking about regime change, and placed steeper tariffs on China while pushing stronger military relations with Japan.  In addition, the US has pushed to take Greenland and has created the largest military buildup in the middle east around since the Iraq War due to a growing possibility of war with Iran (a country which Senator Rubio supported sanctions on).  So it seems like much of Rubio’s agenda in the senate is being reflected by the Trump administration.

Now, one could argue that Trump possibly changed his mind during his four years out of the office.  Besides, many of these countries are ones he clashed with during his first term as President.  After all, he did take out the leader of Iran’s Quds force, struck Syria, and recognized Venezuela’s opposition leader as the real head of the country’s government during his first term.  He’s also been a long term critic of China so being strong against them isn’t all that surprising.  Therefore, Trump’s actions are not definitive proof that Rubio is in complete control of the US’s foreign policy.

However, the fact that Rubio is getting most of his foreign policy agenda as a senator made a priority by the current administration does show the impact and influence he is having.  Likewise, he has publicly disagreed with his boss, noticeably when he downplayed military options to take Greenland when Trump refused to rule that out and took a more collaborative tone towards working with Europe than did JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference.  The fact that he is able to push back on those with higher authority than himself when disagreement has led to firing of officials in the past shows that Rubio may be in a safe position.

Similarly, there have been reports about Trump’s dependence on those closest to him.  There was a saying that during Trump’s first term, the last person he spoke with was usually the one he agreed with at the time.  Keeping in mind that Trump had never been elected before, it’s not surprising that he wanted to take advice from people with more experience than himself in the governmental field.  However, Rubio was not a direct member of Trump’s administration during his first term so that means he has a lot more opportunity to influence the President.

The final point to consider is the weakness of Trump’s ability to accomplish his domestic agenda.  Noticeably, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has struggled to get legislation passed, making an inactivity record, which makes it hard to pass domestic policy since most of that is in the hands of the legislature.  Similarly, a lot of the early policies of the Trump administration was supported by investigations from the Department of Government Efficiency, an initiative championed by Elon Musk.  However, Musk is no longer part of the administration so that initiative seems no longer to be front and center in Trump’s administration.  Increasingly, Trump’s agenda is moving away from what requires congress’s help and is becoming more focused on how he can assert himself internationally.  That means that much of the Trump administration’s second term will be defined by Marco Rubio.

In fairness, there’s a saying that leadership is about getting the right people in the right positions.  If Rubio is directing the White House’s current agendas, then that isn’t a statement of weakness on the President since his goal is to lead the executive branch and make sure the right people are doing the job he requires of them.  However, this blog post should show how much influence Secretary of State Marco Rubio has and how much he can shape the direction of the president.  So it is likely he might be the one actually determining US policy, at least internationally, going forward.  Regardless, whatever his influence, a biography on him will likely be a fascinating read, and a must for anyone who wants to understand US foreign policy in the 21st century.