'More dangerous than any': Op-ed warns terrifying aspect of Trump pick is being missed

The most dangerous aspect lurking within President-elect Donald Trump's chosen Cabinet isn't what is garnering the most attention — and most people are unaware of it, an Atlantic columnist opined Thursday.

Staff writer Jonathan Chait argued Thursday the most alarming part of Fox News pundit Pete Hegseth's nomination to serve as Defense secretary is not the sex abuse accusation made against him, or the lack of experience, or his history of defending war criminals.

It's what's in his books — which Chait spent the last week reading.

"The man who emerges from the page appears to have sunk deeply into conspiracy theories that are bizarre even by contemporary Republican standards but that have attracted strangely little attention," Chait wrote.

"He considers himself to be at war with basically everybody to Trump’s left, and it is by no means clear that he means war metaphorically."

Chait details an alarming beliefs revealed in three "florid, explicit, and often terrifying" books written in the past four years; "American Crusade" (2020), "Battle for the American Mind" (2022), and "The War on Warriors" (2024).

Hegseth's "odd" and "extremist" views, as expressed in his books, are that public education is a communist plot, vaccines are poison, and socialists were responsible for the Holocaust, Chait wrote.

"He may be no less nutty than any of Trump’s more controversial nominees," wrote Chait. "He is almost certainly far more dangerous than any of them."

Chait then arrives at the plans Hegseth has for liberals.

"The War on Warriors" urges readers to treat the American left like wartime enemies, Chait reported, noting "American Crusade" details how Hegseth feels they should be handled.

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"American Crusade calls for the 'categorical defeat of the Left,' with the goal of 'utter annihilation,' without which 'America cannot, and will not, survive,'" wrote Chait. "

"Are the Crusades just a metaphor? Sort of, but not really: 'Our American Crusade is not about literal swords, and our fight is not with guns. Yet.' (Emphasis—gulp—his)."

Chait concludes with a note of explanation and a dark warning to protesters of Trump's next administration.

"The main question I was looking to answer when I started reading Hegseth’s collected works was whether he would follow a Trump command to shoot peaceful protesters," Chait wrote. "After having read them, I don’t think he would even wait for the order."