Pete Hegseth, well known for using his body as a billboard for beliefs, is drawing ire again for his choice of political symbolism.

Critics from both inside and outside the defense department are expressing outrage towards the defense secretary for displaying a Betsy Ross flag in the breast pocket of his suit—first on Memorial Day and again at the Shangri-La Dialogue Summit in Singapore. Many view the image as a symbol associated with white supremacy and other forms of extremism.

‘WTF!,’ tweeted influencer Suzie Rizzio. ‘Why is Pete Hegseth sporting The Betsy Ross flag in his pocket! The Betsy Ross flag represents White Supremacy! The Patriot Front Group was seen marching with these flags last weekend in Kansas!’

‘The guy can’t attend a simple ceremony without angering half the people around,’ a Pentagon insider remarked to the Daily Mail. ‘This isn’t just being tone deaf. This is clear aggression when it comes to optics.’

The image featuring 13 stars in a circle and 13 red and white stripes may seem innocuous enough. It was, after all, the original flag of the United States created in the late 1700s to symbolize the country’s first 13 colonies. 

The design is commonly attributed to Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross, although the identity of its creator is a topic of much historical debate. In any case, the flag remains a proud, patriotic symbol for many Americans.

But the meanings of historic symbols morph over time and, in recent years, the flag has become a more subtle alternative to the Confederate flag as an emblem of white supremacist and extremist groups. 

Those include the Patriot Front and the American Identity Movement, formerly Identity Evropa, both classified as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Various state chapters of the Ku Klux Klan have also used the flag to cover altars, adorn their pamphlets and carry at rallies.

Because the image is inextricably linked to a time of white power and slavery — when the ideals of freedom and liberty it represented didn’t apply to enslaved people, women and many others — some social justice groups see it as a hate symbol. 

They say the flag has become particularly uncomfortable in the ultra-polarized Trump era, and is especially insulting when worn by Hegseth, who has abolished all diversity, equity and inclusion offices and programs from the military.

The Pentagon has framed that move as a way to ‘ensure that promotion and selection and evaluation are all based purely on merit’. But critics see it as an insult to people of color, contributions they’ve made in the military and their continuing struggling for an equal playing field in the U.S.

‘As a [public relations] move, this is another nightmare,’ the insider told us.

The Defense Department formally defended Hegseth’s choice of symbolism while appearing with President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance at Arlington National Cemetery on May 26.

‘The Betsy Ross flag is a patriotic symbol of American independence. Secretary Hegseth is proud to display his love of our country, its people, and its history — especially on Memorial Day,’ reads a statement Friday by Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson.

Hegseth’s pocket square, or at least one like it, is made of ‘100% polyester silk’ and sold online for $24 by a veteran-owned company that urges its customers to ‘Wear what you war’.

The dust-up about his pocket stuffer comes three days after he made headlines for a tattoo scripted in Arabic on his arm.

Eagle-eyed observers noticed the tat last Tuesday, when Hegseth – a double Bronze Star holder who served tours in Afghanistan and Iraq – posted a video of himself doing push-ups and jumping jacks with Navy Seals at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii. 

The tattoo spells out the word ‘kafir’, which in the Quran means ‘disbeliever’ or ‘infidel’.

Muslims immediately decried the tattoo as a sign of disrespect and bigotry.

‘This isn’t just a personal choice; it’s a clear symbol of Islamophobia from the man overseeing U.S. wars,’ Nerdeen Kiswani, a pro-Palestinian activist in New York City wrote on social media, describing the tattoo as ‘normalization of Islamophobia at the highest levels of power’.

‘To the Muslim world the tattoo will be seen as an open declaration of Hegseth’s enmity towards them,’ wrote commenter Tam Hussein on X.

Others defended the tattoo as a message embraced by veterans of Middle Eastern wars.

‘This word is widely recognized among military veterans, especially those who served in the Middle East, as a symbol of defiance against Islamic terrorists,’ wrote X user Brother Rachid.

‘It’s commonly seen on stickers, the backs of trucks, T-shirts, and mugs. Personally, I had it on a hat, a mug, and even on the door of my office.’

Hegseth’s ‘kafir’ seems to be the latest addition among at least a dozen tattoos he has said symbolize his American patriotism and Christian faith.

The words ‘Deus Vult’ right above it on his right inner arm is widely seen as a symbol of Christian nationalism. Even more controversial is the giant Jerusalem or Crusader’s Cross tattooed on his chest, which many Muslims see as celebrating the slaughter of their people in holy war and Democrats claimed during his confirmation hearings is a symbol of Christian right-wing extremism. 

Both, critics say, evoke a conspiracy to rewrite history that America was founded as a Christian nation.

Hegseth has acknowledged that the Jerusalem Cross caused him to be denied a chance to serve in a secure detail in his National Guard unit in Washington D.C.

‘I was deemed an extremist because of a tattoo by my National Guard unit in Washington, D.C., and my orders were revoked to guard the Biden inauguration… a Jerusalem cross tattoo which is just a Christian symbol,’ he told podcaster Shawn Ryan in an interview.

Scrutiny of Hegseth has been intense since opponents of his appointment – including many in the Defense Department itself – have said the former FOX News commentator wasn’t qualified to lead the 3.4 million military and civilian personnel who serve in the federal government’s biggest department. 

Criticism is especially high as he has faced mounting pressure to resign after sharing detailed Yemen strike plans in a group text chat with other Trump officials on the Signal app.

The Betsy Ross flag made headlines in 2019, when Nike announced it would pull July 4th-themed sneakers bearing the symbol because Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL quarterback and civil rights leader who served as a spokesperson for the company, expressed concerns about its potentially offensive symbolism.

The Southern Poverty Law Center sees the flag’s continued use by extremist groups as telegraphing a desire ‘to return to a time when all non-white people were viewed as subhuman and un-American,’ Keegan Hankes, a research analyst for the group has said.

‘Historically, these symbols have been used by white supremacists, both to hearken back to a time when Black people were enslaved, while also painting themselves as the inheritors of the ‘true’ American tradition.’

The image also has been tied to groups in the anti-government, extremist right-wing Patriot Movement, including the militia movement, which has been using the Betsy Ross flag — among other Revolutionary War-era symbols — since the mid-1990s.   

Here are Hegseth’s other tattoos: 

Jerusalem Cross on his chest

The aforementioned Jerusalem Cross is one of his most distinctive tattoos. It consists of a large Christian cross surrounded by four smaller crosses in each quadrant.

Its use stretches back to the 13th century when it was the symbol of the Kingdom of Jerusalem during the Crusades. 

‘Deus Vult’ on his right bicep

Tattooed on his bicep, Hegseth has the phrase ‘Deus Vult’ which means ‘God will it’. This was a phrase that originated from the First Crusade as a battle cry for Christians. 

Hegseth’s book American Crusade, which he describes as an examination of what America would be like without American ideal, also ends with ‘Deus Vult’. 

Cross and sword on right forearm

Other Christian iconography on his arm includes a cross with a sword through it which represents the Matthew 10:34 verse of the bible. 

This reads: ‘Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. 

I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.’

This was the first tattoo he got while on vacation with his family. 

Hegseth also has a Chi-Ro symbol on his upper arm. 

This letters from the Greek alphabet: chi (which looks like an X) and rho (which looks like a P). They are also the first two letters of Christ in Greek. 

The monogram was an early symbol used to represent Christians. 

‘We the people’ and 1775 on right forearm

His other tattoos mostly center around American patriotism and include many symbols and iconography associated with the USA’s independence movement. 

On his forearm he has ‘We the People’ which is the first line of the constitution. 

Above this tattoo, he has the date 1775 in roman numerals – the same year that the American War of Independence started.

Hegseth’s elbow is surrounded by 13 stars which perhaps is a reference to the stars on the Betsy Ross flag – one of the first flags produced to represent the USA and the precursor to the modern star-spangled banner.

‘Join or Die’ snake on inside of his forearm

He also has the iconic ‘join or die’ snake, which is the earliest known pictorial representation of colonial union produced in Colonial America, on his arm. 

The cartoon, allegedly drawn by Benjamin Franklin himself in 1754, was published in the Pennsylvania Gazette shows a snake chopped into eight segments – rather than the 13 colonies – with New England included as one, Delaware a part of Pennsylvania and Georgia missing entirely. 

American flag and sniper rifle on the upper arm

Hegseth also has a modern depiction of the current flag with a sniper at the bottom of the stars and stripes, signaling his support for the Second Amendment of the Constitutional preserving the right to keep and bear arms. 

He posted a picture of himself receiving the body art on his Instagram at NYHC Tattoos in New York which is one of the oldest tattoo parlors in Manhattan.

Infantry Regiment patch also on the upper arm

Hegseth also has a tattoo of his patch used by the 187th Infantry Regiment of the US army, of which Hegseth was a member. 

This was a glider infantry unit during the Second World War which later fought in the Korean War as part of the airborne regimental combat team. The regiment also fought in later wars such as Vietnam, the Gulf war and the Iraq war. 

During his interview with the Big Lead, Hegseth revealed he plans to fill his entire arm with tattoos and then ‘resist the temptation’ to get any more.