Trump's Religious Right Army Prepares for Apocalyptic Vision in US Policy
As the war in Iran spirals dangerously out of control, many within President Donald Trump's inner circle perceive the conflict as a battle foretold in biblical prophecy for the end times. This extreme worldview has moved from the theological fringes to the very heart of American policy-making, according to Washington insiders who spoke exclusively about this alarming development.
The Crusader in the Pentagon
In the winter of 2024, Donald Trump selected Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and military veteran largely unknown outside the United States, to serve as his secretary of defence. Hegseth carries a significant personal symbol: on his right bicep, he has the words "Deus vult" tattooed in gothic script. This Latin motto, translated as "God wills it," originated as a rallying cry for the First Crusade in 1095 and has since been reclaimed by white supremacist and radical Christian nationalist factions as shorthand for anti-Muslim sentiment.
Hegseth has described his tattoos, which include a cross, as merely "Christian symbols." However, author Jeff Sharlet, an expert on the American religious right, places figures like Hegseth within the context of a militant Christian nationalist current that is actively reshaping American politics. This movement has no shortage of ideological standard-bearers, many of whom surround the Maga movement.
The Historical Roots of Christian Nationalism
Sociologist Philip Gorski traces white Christian nationalism in the United States to the late 1600s, when adherents believed America was founded by Christians who modelled its laws and institutions after their religious ideals in response to perceived threats from non-white people and non-Christians. This phenomenon typically surfaces during periods when white Christians feel threatened by external forces, amplified by war, heightened immigration, or economic instability.
"The period we're in now is a perfect storm," Gorski observed. "All three of those catalysts are present." Just two years ago, Yale University's Institution for Social and Policy Studies hosted a conference exploring the role Christian nationalism might play in elections and the threat it represents to American democracy.
Biblical Prophecy as Foreign Policy
Jeff Sharlet has described Hegseth as a Christian nationalist who "absolutely believes in the idea of the ingathering of Israel as a stage toward the Book of Revelation in the Bible." According to Sharlet, Hegseth sees "Israel's war on the Palestinians as biblical prophecy and one that must be supported for the sake of Christendom."
Now in charge of the US defence department, which he re-christened "The Department of War," Hegseth serves as primary architect of Operation Epic Fury, the bloody ongoing conflict in Iran. Earlier this month, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation reported receiving more than 200 complaints from service members alleging that US military commanders told troops their deployment to Iran was part of God's plan.
The Divine Mission and Replacement Theory
Democratic political strategist Rachel Bitecofer, who has been warning of authoritarian threats from the Trump administration, notes that while this may sound "insane to a European audience," she believes Hegseth "thinks he's been chosen by God to go on a divine mission to usher in the second coming of Jesus."
Bitecofer adds, "Not all evangelical Christians are white Christian nationalists, but all white Christian nationalists are evangelical. And they believe in the rapture, the apocalypse, and the Second Coming." Many Christian nationalists also espouse the "great replacement theory"—a white supremacist conspiracy alleging a deliberate globalist plot to diminish white political power and cultural dominance through mass non-white immigration and falling birth rates.
"Everyone in the Maga orbit subscribes to the idea that America is for white people and the fact that it's not going to have a majority white population in the future is an existential threat," Bitecofer explains. "They think that this not only has to be stopped in terms of new immigration, but they're de-naturalising people too."
The Seven Mountain Mandate and Secret Funding
The New Apostolic Reformation and its "Seven Mountain Mandate" have moved from theological edges to the centre of the Maga establishment. Spearheaded by figures like pastor Lance Wallnau, this Dominionist theology posits that Christians are divinely chosen to reclaim seven mountains of societal influence—including government, media, and the military—to transform America into a functional theocracy.
This movement receives partial funding from Ziklag, a secretive, invitation-only network of donors each with a minimum net worth of $25 million who view their wealth as a weapon to realise Wallnau's apostolic visions. Founded by entrepreneur Ken Eldred, whose 2009 book God is At Work teaches how to convert people to Christianity through business ventures, Ziklag operates as a tax-exempt charity bringing together wealthy Christian donors to support initiatives shaping culture and society according to their religious beliefs.
The 250-Year Plan and Legal Realities
According to the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, connections between Ziklag and Project 2025—the transition plan authored by the Heritage Foundation to provide a conservative roadmap for centralising executive power under Donald Trump—"run deep," with "overlapping networks of supporters and allied organisations."
The long-term "250-year" strategy being pushed by the Heritage Foundation today reads like a generational successor to Project 2025, designed to ensure the Trumpian revolution becomes a permanent restructuring of American life. This involves establishing that marriage between a man and woman forms the cornerstone of civilisation, rebuilding the nuclear family, replacing 1960s welfare and cultural legacy with faith-based governance, and encouraging high birth rates as defence against demographic decay and moral decline.
The roadmap explicitly states: "Without families, a country ... lacks a storehouse of strong and brave men to protect itself from hostile aggressors at home and abroad." This requirement for a "storehouse of men" provides human fuel for a foreign policy viewing military intervention as biblical necessity.
From Performative to Practical Theology
Bitecofer insists that changing the defence secretary title to "secretary of war" was "a big tell. It never felt performative. It's not a joke. It's a posture. An interventionist posture. We're living in a collapsing constitutional republic here in the US."
As Jeff Sharlet noted recently, Christian nationalism has been mainstreamed. "Their guy's in the White House. They're not the underground—you and I are."
In state legislatures, the theological mandate to reclaim societal influence translates into legal reality reaching into the most private corners of American life. In March 2026 at the Tennessee Statehouse, a subcommittee considered a bill that would have classified abortion as homicide—opening women to the death penalty. While no lawmaker dared motion for a hearing, Tennessee represents merely one front in a coordinated, multi-state offensive.
Similar "prenatal protection" acts in South Carolina and "personhood" challenges in Georgia and Louisiana have brought state-sanctioned execution as punishment for abortion into mainstream political discourse. These moves increasingly alienate women who once viewed the new right as sanctuary from "woke" progressivism, with some leading figures demanding absolute female subjection to leadership.
For a movement that promised a return to freedom, this represents a sobering conclusion. Increasingly, the Heritage Foundation's 250-year plan, like Hegseth's "God wills it" tattoo, feels more like a roadmap for a country where the only way to lead is to prepare for the end of the world.
