In light of former President Donald Trump’s statement that he plans to nominate Fox News host Pete Hegseth to be his Department of Defense secretary, Media Matters is republishing reporting and research from 2020 on Hegseth’s anti-Muslim history.
Pete Hegseth is an anti-Muslim bigot who has warned followers about the Muslim birth rate in states like Michigan; criticized the election of Muslims to public office; and praised President Donald Trump’s call for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”
Hegseth is a co-host of Fox & Friends’ weekend edition. He is an influential pro-Trump voice who has lobbied Trump to pardon people convicted of war crimes. Hegseth himself has endorsed committing war crimes.
Hegseth has pushed anti-Muslim rhetoric on Fox News. For instance:
- In a February 2016 segment about Hamtramck, Michigan, which has a Muslim majority, Hegseth pushed fears about the “assimilation” and “integration” of Muslims.
- In May 2017, Hegseth criticized then-Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges (D) for giving her State of the City address at a mosque. He stated: “This is the left doing everything they can to fall over themselves to fawn over a new community.”
- In May 2018, Hegseth said of France: “I hate to put it this way, but I think it's true. They've got a slow-motion 9/11 happening in their borders in France. ... Demography matters. Muslims are having 2.6 kids, whereas French-born folks are having 1.6 kids.”
Hegseth is also a supporter of then-Florida Republican congressional candidate Laura Loomer, who has described herself as a “proud Islamophobe,” has said that she didn’t “care” about the anti-Muslim mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, and has stated that she’s in favor of “more” migrant deaths. Hegseth has repeatedly defended Loomer; said that he hopes “she wins, and wins big!”; and posted a now-deleted tweet containing a donation link for her campaign.
Hegseth makes his anti-Muslim views clear in his book American Crusade, which was released in May 2020. In it, he wrote that “just like the Christian crusaders who pushed back the Muslim hordes in the twelfth century, American Crusaders will need to muster the same courage against Islamists today"; warned about the “Muslims’ birth rates” in states like Michigan, New York, and Minnesota; and complained about the number of Muslim-Americans who have been elected to office across the U.S.
Here are several excerpts.
Hegseth warned about “Muslims’ birth rates” in states like Michigan and the number of Muslim candidates who have won political office across the U.S.