Pete Hegseth has appeared on the podcast at least four times. (Getty)
Pete Hegseth has appeared on the podcast of a former pastor who has called for the return of public executions and labelled homosexuality an abomination to God.
The US secretary of defence has reportedly appeared on at least four episodes of Reformation Red Pill, hosted by Joshua Haymes, who worked at a church Hegseth regularly attended.
“Red pill” is a phrase originally used in The Matrix, but which has since been co-opted by some right-wing groups.
Haymes has previously supported staging public executions over moral disputes, including LGBTQ+ rights, abortion and other progressive beliefs.
“Public executions are biblical,” he said on one episode of the podcast. “Therefore, public executions are good. We should bring [them] back.”
Haymes has supported the idea of publicly executing doctors who perform abortions and, in June, seemingly suggested that people who marched at Nashville Pride should be drowned. In recent months, he has voiced extreme positions on topics such as immigration raids, “great replacement” theory, adultery and neo-Nazism, according to The Guardian.
In a later email, he clarified what he meant about Nashville Pride. “I do not advocate for violence against [the] marchers. I do not advocate for violence of any kind… my role is simply to give that warning,” he wrote.
Pete Hegseth seems to support the former pastor. (Getty)
Earlier this month, Haymes posted a statement on X/Twitter, saying: “I used to say homosexuality is no worse than other sins. All sin separates us from God, after all. I was wrong. Sexual sin is uniquely evil. Sodomy
is an abomination to God, along with crossdressing… it’s important for Christians to say so,” LGBTQ Nation reported.
And in a post last September, Haymes said he believed all Christians “must be pro-death penalty,” adding that he was “not yet sold on the idea that all capitol [sic] punishment must be a public stoning where the community partakes,” suggesting instead “death by public firing squad wherein the accuser and the witnesses partake in the firing”.
During a episode of the podcast last month, Haymes reportedly said the Bible – despite being written centuries ago – was “in favour of” raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The former pastor is a member of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, a Christian Nationalist denomination that holds biblical law above all statutory legislation.
Haymes is also reported to have given a platform to Brooks Potteiger, a pastor and one of Hegseth’s spiritual advisors.
Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, told The Guardian that Hegseth’s appearance on the podcast was “completely unacceptable,” adding: “In earlier eras, a person with ties like that would never have reached the heights of federal power or been acceptable to the [Republican Party].”
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