A Secretary of Defense Pick With a Full MAGA Look

Pete Hegseth, Donald J. Trump’s shock pick for secretary of defense treats clothes like a CV, a catalog of hobbies and a patriotic signal fire.

Want to know where Mr. Hegseth has worked for the past decade? His gleaming “Fox Nation” belt buckle and “Fox News Channel” Christmas sweater answer that. How about his ideological leanings? His “A pledge a day keeps the commies away” T-shirt and the MAGA hat he wore on election night are clues enough. Even Mr. Hegseth’s favored football team is answered by his Minnesota Vikings tie.

Most of all, Mr. Hegseth, 44, a veteran and thrice-married father of seven, wears clothes plastered with American flags. He often dresses as if he had raided Walmart before going to a July 4 parade: American flag cowboy hats, American flag button-up shirts, American flag socks, American flag roper hats, American flag bow ties and American flag T-shirts. In an Instagram video from May 2023, Mr. Hegseth said he adhered to a “three flag minimum” in what he wears, pointing to a spangled belt buckle, pocket square and the pièce de résistance, the American flag lining of his blue suit jacket.

Mr. Hegseth appears to have more suits lined with American flags than most men have suits. On Fox, he favors the too-bright uniform of so many male TV personalities: caramel dress sneakers and a sheeny suit landing somewhere between blueberry and aquamarine. But the patriotic lining is always the top story. When Mr. Hegseth flashes the spangled under-layer, the get-a-load-of-this move looks like something a wrestler named Macho Mr. Freedom would do before entering the ring.

A staunch defender of Mr. Trump who has challenged the notion of women in combat and championed service members accused of war crimes, Mr. Hegseth’s suit linings exemplify how he, like many modern Republicans, sees patriotism and conservatism as ideologically twinned.