Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stood by lambasting the media and others as “Pharisees” when confronted by Senator Jacky Rosen about his use of the term, even after she warned that it has been weaponized against Jewish people.
Rosen, who is Jewish, brought up the Pentagon chief’s repeated use of the word to attack Trump critics during a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“You compared journalists, you compared us, you compare so many to Pharisees. Pharisees. It’s a problematic and historically weaponized term that casts Jewish communities as hypocritical or morally corrupt. You’ve doubled down again and said it,” Rosen said. “How do you justify using this language as Secretary of Defense? Words matter. It’s a historically hurtful term.”
She wanted to know what he was doing to stop such language from “permeating throughout the department” that targets people based on religion.
“Senator, I feel like it’s a pretty accurate term for folks who don’t see the plank in their own eye and always want to see what’s wrong with an operation as opposed to the historic success of preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, so I stand by it,” Hegseth pushed back.
“You stand by calling people Pharisees. Sir, I cannot, I cannot stand for that. That is wrong. It is not respectful to people, and I expect anyone who is in leadership in our country to be respectful and use respectful terms and not be an anti-semite,” Rosen concluded.
The exchange took place after Hegseth touted attacking the media as “Pharisees” earlier in the hearing, while also blasting Democratic members and “some Republicans” as the “biggest adversary” as he fiercely promoted President Donald Trump’s war in Iran.
Earlier this month, Hegseth blasted the media as “Pharisees” in an attack where he also compared Trump to Jesus in a biblical rant from the Pentagon podium.
“I sat there in church and I thought, our press are just like these Pharisees, not all of you, not all of you, but the legacy Trump-hating press,” Hegseth complained at his April 16 briefing.
“The Pharisees scrutinized every good act in order to find a violation, only looking for the negative,” Hegseth fumed in his Trump compared to Jesus ramble.
It was one of Hegseth’s multiple meltdowns against the media for the coverage of the ongoing war in Iran, as Trump has struggled to reach a peace deal or define a long-term vision as the U.S. military carries out a blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.
Hegseth has repeatedly mixed religious rhetoric while defending Trump’s striking Iran and is facing increasing scrutiny for promoting Christian nationalist ideology within the military, not just with his own words but by even inviting a controversial Christian nationalist pastor to preach at the Pentagon earlier this year.
