MAGA architect Steve Bannon thinks Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth needs to cool the religious messaging.
Hegseth has leaned heavily on scripture to narrate his and President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, framing the multi-billion-dollar U.S. war machine as a righteous hand of God.
On Thursday, he took it one step further, framing the media as “Pharisees” unmoved by the “miracle” of Christ.
“My observation or recommendation: I don’t think I would start that with some references to the New Testament,” Bannon said on his podcast War Room on Thursday.
“That’s all the mainstream media is covering right now, is Pete’s opening remark about the Gospel according to Mark and the reference to the Pharisees, which is, I think, great,” he said. “It’s just when are you going to do it? I would not do it because it… it steps on what’s important.”
Bannon praised Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine and U.S. Central Command commander Adm. Brad Cooper for their matter-of-fact briefing on the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. He then suggested Hegseth, too, might benefit from sticking to the war.
“My two cents: We ought to tone that down and focus, when we got the Pentagon, let’s have a military briefing,” he said.
Hegseth’s relationship with the Pentagon press corps has been combative since he took office last year.
In October, he tried to have all members of the credentialed press sign an agreement granting the government oversight of what could be published.
The move sparked outrage among journalists and triggered a mass walkout by most outlets—including Fox News and Newsmax—leaving only a handful of right-wing titles, foreign freelancers, and representatives from obscure news sites.
Hegseth then repopulated the press corps with a smorgasbord of right-wing influencers and activists such as Trump loyalist Laura Loomer.
Still, the new ensemble received Hegseth’s Bible-heavy wrath during Thursday’s briefing.
“The relentlessly negative coverage you cannot resist peddling, despite the historic and important success of this effort and the success of our troops, sometimes it’s hard to figure out what side some of you are actually on. It’s incredibly unpatriotic,” he said.
He then offered a metaphor, likening the press to the Pharisees, who were often seen as enemies of Christ.
“This past Sunday, I was sitting in church with my family, and our minister preached from the Book of Mark, the third chapter, and in the passage, Jesus entered a synagogue and healed a man with a withered hand. The Pharisees came to watch,” he said.
“As the scripture reads, they came to see whether he, Jesus, would heal him, or he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.”
He continued, “You see, the Pharisees, the so-called and self-appointed elites of their time, they were there to witness, to write everything down, to report, but their hearts were hardened, even though they witnessed a literal miracle. It didn’t matter. They were only there to explain away the goodness in pursuit of their agenda.”
“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,” he concluded.
In March, Hegseth closed a part of the Pentagon known as “Correspondents’ Corridor,” which has been used for decades by journalists covering the Defense Department.
It came after a judge reinstated The New York Times’ Pentagon accreditation, following its lawsuit against Hegseth and the department after the walkout last year.
On Wednesday, Hegseth’s religious messaging came crashing down around him when he appeared to quote a religion-adjacent passage made up by director Quentin Tarantino for the movie Pulp Fiction.
The lines, first said by hitman Jules Winnfield portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson, were a fictionalized variation of Ezekiel 25:17 and were delivered by Hegseth at a worship service at the Pentagon.
“The path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of camaraderie and duty, shepherd the lost through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children,” Hegseth said, the line first made by A Public Witness.
“And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to capture and destroy my brother. And you will know my call sign is Sandy 1 when I lay my vengeance upon thee.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the Department of Defense for comment.
