The earlier post: https://zaetsch.blogspot.com/2026/06/glitz-vs-substance-show-vs-wisdom.html
That post featured this video, with readers encouraged to again view it, and compare the depth of understanding Chapin has relative to Emmer - capability to do the job well, and for those not as wealthy as Elon or Jeff. Emmer - he goes along to get along.
Emmer the enabler. He is in Trump's pocket. He is fine with all Trump entails; particularly, Hegseth, who is more the point of this post than Chapin, Emmer or Trump. In effect, Trump enables Hegseth with Emmer enabling Trump.
Hegseth is a major problem, and a loose cannon causing worry -
Much can be written of the man's drinking or other aspects, but this is laser focused on who he is on the job running the largest most fearsome military in today's world.
MSN carries a post by TheIndependent - https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/mormons-outraged-after-pentagon-no-longer-counts-lds-as-christian/ar-AA253aQs
Title -
Mormons outraged after Pentagon no longer counts LDS as Christian
Story by
That is explicit here, because Crabgrass has no tie to the Mormons, Brigham Young, Joseph Smith, the Twelve Apostles, etc., etc. This is not about them.
The item begins with an embedded video which largely tells the story. Under two min long, so view it before reading the main part of the item. It reemphasizes who Hegseth is. And is not about mormons, but rather a European speech Hegseth gave. Empty words, given with a demeanor that is puke worthy. The Hegseth style.
Item text -
“The Pentagon’s decision to list The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apart from other Christian faiths is wrong and needs to be corrected,” Republican Rep. Mike Kennedy, of heavily Mormon Utah, wrote on X on Sunday.
“No one needs to wonder where members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stand,” he added. “We stand with Christ. We are Christians. On that ground, and on the much larger ground of shared faith, values, and purpose, Latter-day Saints stand alongside many Christians of every tradition in following the teachings of Christ. We only ask to be accurately portrayed. I strongly urge the Department to correct the record.”
In a separate X post, Sen. John Curtis of Utah said church members “are among the most patriotic, service-oriented individuals in our country.”
“They are also unequivocally Christian — just look at who is in the name of the Church,” he added. “It is unacceptable for a government entity to characterize a faith in a manner that contradicts the religion’s own foundational tenets. I am working now to ensure a correction is made.”
Enough of that. It is how the item starts, further along -
The LDS Church declined to comment.
The Independent has requested comment from the Pentagon.
[...] The military argues the reorganization of its faith code list is meant to streamline data-gathering for chaplains, rather than boost or deny the legitimacy of any specific religion (Defense Department)Pentagon’s list of recognized faith codes has been reduced from more than 200 to just 31, consolidating some religions into general categories such as Muslim or evangelical Christian, while eliminating numerous other faiths entirely from the list, lumping them into a general “other religions” category.
[...] The change, first described in a May memo and reported by Military.com, nonetheless angered a wide variety of critics and faith leaders.
[...] The Pentagon under the direction of Secretary Pete Hegseth is “elevating one narrow religious worldview from the top of the chain of command,” according to Rev. Paul Raushenbush, a Baptist minister and head of the progressive Interfaith Alliance.
“The First Amendment does not allow the government to create a hierarchy of faiths, and it certainly does not allow the Pentagon to decide which beliefs are worthy of recognition,” he told the Associated Press.
Hegseth has incorporated Christian prayer regularly into his official duties, alarming critics who see this as a violation of the military’s tradition of political and cultural neutrality (AFP/Getty)Hegseth himself has spoken about his changes to the chaplain corps in political terms, describing the reforms as “making the Chaplain Corps Great Again,” a play on Trump’s MAGA campaign slogan.
“In an atmosphere of political correctness and secular humanism, chaplains have been minimized, viewed by many as therapists instead of ministers,” Hegseth said of religious leaders in the military in a December video.
Hegseth has incorporated his religion into his official actions unlike any defense secretary in modern American history.
An evangelical Christian, he has led Christian prayer services at the Pentagon and has suggested God is on the side of U.S. troops in the American war against Muslim-majority Iran, alarming religious freedom advocates.
Hegseth has spoken about the U.S.-Iran war in religious terms (Getty)“This is completely, totally unprecedented,” Michael Weinstein, the president and founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, previously told The Independent. “He's making it clear that this is Jesus versus Muhammad.”
Hegseth also has multiple tattoos featuring Crusader-era imagery and slogans.
In short, he is a dangerous extremist Christian nationalist, for all that entails. Continuing -
In his 2020 book American Crusade, Hegseth rejected the separation of church and state as “leftist folklore.”
Since taking office, Hegseth has referred to the U.S. as a “Christian nation in our DNA.”
A belligerent nation, per Hegseth's DNA. A pariah nation, per Bibi's DNA.
Leaving that theme as sufficiently examined earlier in blog posting, Hegseth seemingly being happy with war against Iran is a problem. It is costly, it wastes resources, it leaves our nation weaker, it threatens worldwide well being, and it is being a lost war with Iran strangling worldwide energy commerce and in no hurry to stop doing so.
Stabler minds might have avoided it altogether.
Back now to Chapin and Emmer. Emmer is Trump's guy in the House. As such, if you are happy with Trump, you should stop reading. Chapin, alone, if defeating Emmer will not weigh heavy enough for a change. Chapin, as part of a Democratic Party sound midterm turnout and vote, can be an experienced leader among new House Democratic Party leadership. He has experience in DC. He is respected.
Emmer is a blowhard, not as bad a Jesus jockey as Michele Bachmann was, he is an upgrade in that aspect, but turning him back to the family lumber business, or whatever private sector future he has, is better now than later. He can enter the crypto trade. He's halfway there already.
BOTTOM LINE: Chapin is a very promising, credible candidate, and he would do well for Minnesota and the nation, if part of the house cleaning the midterm election appears to be.
Emmer is bleating about nine billion in fraud in Minnesota, which is a made-up number he cannot justify if pressed to do so. The whole "fraud" theme is being scripted and pushed out the White House door. Replete with Trump's racist divisionary rhetoric -
Section 1. Purpose and Policy. American taxpayers fund a vast benefits system for citizens in need that includes housing, food, medical care, cash assistance, and more. States administer these federally funded programs, and some States have embraced loopholes that avoid individual eligibility validation, allow self-certification of eligibility, and expand eligibility far beyond what the Congress intended. Worse, despite accepting Federal funds, some States have refused to institute basic fraud controls such as providing enrollee information to the Federal Government that would allow it to verify eligibility. As a result, illegal aliens, criminals, foreign gangs, bureaucrats, State and local officials, non-governmental organizations, and ineligible providers exploit these programs ‑- which are intended to provide a safety net to lawfully eligible Americans — with ease. This exploitation and lack of controls to prevent it have resulted in widespread fraud, waste, and abuse at the expense of the American taxpayers who pay for and utilize these programs, contributing substantially to the national debt.
Self-dealing political actors use such public benefits programs to solidify control over their communities and our political systems. Due to lax immigration policy and immigration fraud, certain public officials admit into our country, and provide sanctuary from Federal immigration laws to, migrant populations who are likely to rely on means-tested, public assistance programs (welfare) and increase the political support and power of the public officials providing the benefits. This increased support incentivizes public officials to maximize the flow of welfare to these communities and makes public officials who do so more powerful. Many of these public officials then fail to police these programs — and in some cases, willfully turn a blind eye to fraud, waste, and abuse within them — to ensure that welfare flows to these migrants. Due to insufficient election integrity measures, some migrants who are not eligible to vote do so anyway, with the same public officials permitting widespread ballot harvesting schemes that compromise our election integrity and help these public officials remain in power.
The staggering fraud and waste in Minnesota alone is a case in point. Federal prosecutors in the State estimate that Medicaid fraud in recent years could total in the billions. Nearly 9 percent of the roughly $866 million spent on food stamps in Minnesota each year is estimated to be spent in error. The non-profit Feeding our Future engineered a scam that stole nearly $250 million intended to feed needy children in Minnesota by opening fake meal sites and submitting fraudulent claims for millions of meals that were never served.
This from the biggest Fraud going around today, that bogus Trump v. IRS lawsuit where even Republican Senators are giantly pissed at Trump and Blanche and blisteed Blanche's ass in a closed session on the Hill (see, e.g., here and here).
Thirty-five former federal judges have filed in that case, calling it a fraud on the court.
That is an unprecedented repudiation of the cozy groundless immunity deal Trump got, not for settling a claim of tax due by paying up, but for suing to claim damages, where immunity is not at issue as money due the government is not the point of the false filing. Setting up a situation where Trump and Blanche could fiddle around shamelessly was the whole point and plan - i.e., an unprecedented fraud on the court. Disrespectful of all that access to the judiciary is meant for in our Constitutional order of things.
So, Emmer takes marching orders from the White House on the "fraud" bullshit claim, where the Feed Our Future pack has been fully prosecuted with the white lady fronting for the thing getting a 41 year sentence amid ongoing clawback efforts in court still.
And Emmer will scapegoat Minnesota's Somali community for political gain because his boss tells him to do exactly that, per the Executive Order quote above dwelling in Immigrant hate which Trump could not leave out of the Presidential Executive Order, because Trump is inadequately self-restrained and is a lifelong racist dating back to when Fred Trump was alive and the Trumps were using Roy Cohn to fight a raciall discrimination rental housing New York state lawsuit. So Emmer will dutifully go with chapter and verse of his orange leader's hate fit. It's the easy way. Emmer takes it, willingly flogging the will to follow orders to try to divide the community.
Chapin, thankfully, is not like that. He will do the job and end the demonization of a part of USA society because it is wrong to divide in hopes of conquest, that being the Trump and Emmer way. Not Chapin's way.