TL;DR: Hegseth has been saying this shit for years, and he never gave much thought to what it meant.
Secretary of Defense1 Pete Hegseth recently gave a prayer service at the Pentagon that paraphrased a fictional Bible verse from the movie Pulp Fiction.2 News coverage points out that it’s Tarantino rather than the Testament, and perhaps some evangelical Trumpists will be displeased about that. Apart from where the text came from, though, he’s misread it.
Hegseth surely picked the passage because he thought it would convey his kill-them-all mentality, but a major plot point in the movie is that this mentality is toxic and that real strength requires moving past it. The verse is the catch-phrase of the hitman Jules (played by Samuel L. Jackson). In recounting it to would-be robbers in a restaurant, he says:
I’ve been saying that shit for years and if you heard it, it meant your ass. I never gave much thought to what it meant. I just thought it was some cold-blooded shit to say to a motherfucker before I popped a cap in his ass. But I saw some shit this morning that made me think twice. See, now I’m thinking maybe… you’re the righteous man and I’m the shepherd and it’s the world that’s evil and selfish. And I’d like that but, that shit ain’t the truth. Truth is, you’re the weak and I am the tyranny of evil men. But I’m trying… I’m trying real hard to be the shepherd.3
So Jules lets the would-be robbers go without putting a cap in their asses. This ends the movie, with the thoughts that haphazard slaughter is not good and that grace is not only possible but important.
That sentiment is more Biblical than Hegseth’s enthusiasm for war crimes. Haphazard slaughter and murder is not good. Grace is not only possible but important.
- Self-styled Secretary of War.
- Forbes has the full quotation.
- Wikiquote has the full quote.