Vice President-elect J.D. Vance did not travel with President-elect Donald Trump, billionaire MAGA supporter Elon Musk, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on Trump Force One and eat McDonald’s before attending UFC 30 at Madison Square Garden in New York City this past weekend.
But the Ohio Senator is voicing his support for Trump’s Cabinet nominees including Kennedy (US Health Secretary) and Tulsi Gabbard (Director of National Intelligence) on social media.
Vance also came to the defense of Fox News talk show host Pete Hegseth, the combat veteran Trump has nominated for Secretary of Defense.
They’re attacking Pete Hegseth for having a Christian motto tattooed on his arm. This is disgusting anti-Christian bigotry from the AP, and the entire organization should be ashamed of itself. https://t.co/tQxuD3RPlx
— JD Vance (@JDVance) November 15, 2024
Vance responded to an AP article filed on November 15 (Trump Pentagon pick had been flagged by fellow service member as possible ‘Insider Threat’) by writing: “They’re attacking Pete Hegseth for having a Christian motto tattooed on his arm. This is disgusting anti-Christian bigotry from the AP, and the entire organization should be ashamed of itself.”
In the article, AP reported that Hegseth “was was flagged as a possible ‘Insider Threat’ by a fellow service member due to a tattoo on his bicep that’s associated with white supremacist groups.”
As seen in the 2020 video below — of Hegseth flexing his bicep — the words “Deus Vult” (translated from Latin, “God wills it”) are tattooed on his arm.
The phrase — which was first chanted by Catholics during the First Crusade as a rallying cry — has been used as a slogan by several white supremacist groups in modern times, and was on display at the far-right riot in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.
Below is the National Guard email referenced in the AP article.
It wasn’t the AP – it was the National Guard.
BTW, Hegseth lied about which tattoo was the problem. pic.twitter.com/0tdeyfI2nS
— KO Murphy (@klcmurphy) November 15, 2024