When Hegseth Makes War Sound Like a Crusading Video Game

Unlike AI I am free to write an op-ed which attacks politicians. AI is programmed to not provide strong opinions about politicians even if it is warranted! 😎

So here goes: there is something deeply wrong when a leader - I am referring to the so called 'Secretary of War', Pete Hegseth - talks about killing as if it were exciting or clean (indeed moral). As if he has reduced the real thing to a game. As if he is addicted to war pornography. I think he genuinely is. It seems like that.

War is supposed to be the last resort, something heavy and tragic. It is always bloody tragic. And avoidable. But the way Trump and Hegseth have spoken about the Iran conflict makes it sound more like a video game than a real war with real people dying. When someone prays for “every round to find its mark” or for “overwhelming violence of action,” it doesn’t sound like leadership. It sounds like someone enjoying the idea of destruction.

That is why Pope Leo’s Palm Sunday message hit so hard. He said, “God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.” It was a simple sentence, but it cut straight through the noise. Prayer is not meant to bless killing. It is not meant to make violence feel righteous. It is meant to achieve the opposite. 

When someone uses prayer to ask for better killing, they are not talking to God — they are trying to use God. And that is a dangerous thing. God - if he existed - would grimace at such attempts at prayer.

The tragedy becomes even clearer when you look at the other side. While American officials pray for victory, young men in Iran kneel on their prayer rugs and ask God for the same thing. Two nations, two faiths, one God — and each convinced that the other must be defeated. It becomes a mirror image: each side praying for the success of its weapons, each side believing it is righteous, each side asking God to help it kill. Nothing about that is holy. 

Nothing about that is sane. And yet Hegseth apparently ardently believes everything he says in prayer to his God. It demonstrates - as far as I am concerned - that he is a slightly (greatly?) deranged person. And a very dangerous person. 

Trump is not dissimilar. They both have borderline personality disorders which is probably why Trump appointed Hegseth who incidentally insisted on being titled 'Secretary of War' not of defence. Note: an executive order authorised “Department of War” and “Secretary of War” as secondary, non‑statutory titles for communications. This did not replace the legal name — it simply allowed the terminology to appear in messaging. Hegseth seized on this immediately.

The real problem is the way war is being imagined. When leaders talk about killing with excitement instead of sorrow, war becomes easier to start and harder to stop. The language becomes simple, clean, and thrilling, while the reality is bloody, messy, and full of grief. Once war is spoken of like entertainment, the human cost disappears from view.

That is why Pope Leo’s warning matters. He is trying to pull the moral weight back into the room. He is reminding everyone — leaders, soldiers, citizens — that war is not a show, not a game, and not a place to look for spiritual excitement. It is a place of suffering. And anyone who forgets that is already lost.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also, sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. And, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable. Finally, (!) I often express an OPINION on the news. Please share yours in a comment.