California Governor Gavin Newsom trolled Pete Hegseth after Hegseth quoted a fake Bible verse from Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction at a Pentagon prayer service.
While discussing the “Sandy 1” rescue mission involving a downed pilot in Iran, Hegseth told his audience that a prayer had been delivered at the start of the operation and encouraged them to join him in it.
He said:
“This prayer was recited by Sandy 1, which is one of the Sandies, to all Sandies, all those A-10 crews, prior to all CSAR missions, but especially this CSAR mission, which happened in real time. They call it CSAR 25:17, which I think is meant to reflect Ezekiel 25:17.”
"So the prayer is CSAR 25:17 and it reads, and pray with me please, “The path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of camaraderie and duty shepherds the lost through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children."
"And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to capture and destroy my brother, and you will know my call sign is Sandy 1 when I lay my vengeance upon thee. Amen.”
You can hear what Hegseth said in the video below.
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However, the prayer wasn't Ezekiel 25:17—which reads, “And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes…”—it more closely resembled the fictionalized version delivered by Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction, recited just before his character kills a man.
Jackson says:
“The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children."
"And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord, when I lay my vengeance upon thee.”
You can hear it juxtaposed against Hegseth's "prayer" below.
Newsom quickly responded by posting a meme of a three-armed Hegseth flanked by a bottle of Jack Daniels and positioned much like Uma Thurman on the famous Pulp Fiction movie poster—except this version is called "Pete Fiction" and includes the following caption:
"I just make up stuff because I'm War Secretary."
You can see it below.
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People loved it—and took the opportunity to criticize Hegseth themselves.
We'll consider that another win for the account of Newsom's official press office.
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