This Huntington Beach City Councilman wrote an amazing book about his time as a Navy SEAL—then blew it.

Chad Williams surrenders to his bully impulses, submits to an aspiring authoritarian and makes us all wonder what's the point of professed faith—if you don't actually adhere to it.

A confession: I bought “Seal of God” because I assumed it would suck.

The book cost me $4 used on Amazon. It was written in 2012 by Chad Williams, who nowadays devotes his time to trolling the libs and serving as a hard-hard-hard-hard right Huntington Beach City Council member. And, again, I assumed “Seal of God” would be some poorly written, poorly edited, self-published piece of crap that I would peruse while giggling my ass off.

Then I would take to this space and eviscerate it.

But … no.

If I’m being honest, “Seal of God” isn’t merely engrossing—it’s one of the all-time best breakdowns of the hellscape that is Navy SEAL training, as well as foreign deployment. It’s the story of a vagabond Huntington Beach skater kid (Williams) who grows tired of his wayward, hard-drinking, obnoxious ways and decides, as a teenager, he’s going to devote himself to becoming a Navy SEAL.

And no one in his life believes him. Not his folks (Wrote Williams: “As Dad began to cite examples of other things I previously had been so serious about doing, I felt like he was doubting that I had what it took to become a SEAL”). Not his friends. Nobody. But the kid is determined, and tough, and hardheaded, and—thanks to the guidance of Scott Helvenston, his guru and a fellow SEAL who would later be murdered in Iraq—Williams is one of 13 in his Navy SEAL class of 173 who endure and graduate.

I am not exaggerating when I say, on flights to and from Nashville a week ago, I couldn’t set “Seal of God” aside. It’s terrific and uplifting, and I was particularly inspired by Williams’ allegiance toward country, toward service, toward defending the American way of life. In many ways, “Seal of God” is a devotional ode to democracy. Chad Williams absolutely loves the United States, and was willing to die to defend all the Constitution and Declaration of Independence stand for.

Alas, that’s why this book is, ultimately, so tragic.

“Seal of God” is, in myriad ways, the saga of a high school bully straightening himself out. As a young man, Williams was—bluntly—kind of a dick. He picked on people, egged them on, threw drunken punches just, well, to throw drunken punches. The SEALs, he writes, changed that approach to life, as did his later acceptance of Jesus Christ as his lord and savior. According to Williams, he uncovered peace and love and kindness and empathy.

And yet, to observe Williams the city councilman is to witness a staggeringly unaware asswipe. I’ve now watched him during multiple meetings, and Williams is unsympathetic. And condescending. And mean. Like, mean-as-a-snake mean. He has a terrifying (yet not altogether unsurprising) Christ complex, where he believes (truly) that he is on the side of God, and his opponents are (his word) “evil.” After his win in last November’s election, he literally wrote on Instagram: “This is a victory for ‘God and Country’ as-it-were; for our city, and the values we hold dear in Huntington Beach. For the first time in memorable history, every single elected position in Huntington Beach is filled by God-fearing believers in Christ.¹ This moment is bigger than any one person—it’s a reminder of what ‘we the people’ can do together when we put our trust in God and step up to fight for what we love.”

And what gets me—what always gets me—is how this Navy SEAL is 100-percent full-on MAGA. How this Navy SEAL is OK kneeling before a man who had five draft deferments for imaginary bone spurs; who mocked POWs for “being captured”; who insisted John McCain’s name be covered on a battle ship; who lied about being a hero on September 11; who refused to honor World War I soldiers because it was raining; who shows no interest in the Constitution. I can understand being conservative; being Republican; not feeling Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. I get it. Truly. But you’re Chad Williams. You’re a loud-and-proud Christian. Literally, you preach at church. Every Sunday. You probably wore a WWJD bracelet or two in your day.

And this crumb, who cheats on wife 1 with wife 2 and wife 2 with wife 3 and wife 3 with a porn star (who he paid off in hush money)—he’s your guy? And this man, who mocks the disabled, the overweight, the unattractive—he’s your guy? And this man, who literally can’t name a Bible verse—he’s your guy? And this man who possesses none of the Navy SEAL ethos—he’s your guy?

I actually just took a few moments to watch this clip—Chad Williams, 13 years ago, preaching Christianity in Huntington Beach, as he used to do quite frequently …

And while it’s not my cup of tea, at least that long-ago dude seemed to have conviction. It was a hot day in SoCal, and he stood on the cement, trying to convince people Christ was the way. Even as an agnostic Jew, I can appreciate the oomph.

But now, what are we learning from Chad Williams? That power corrupts. That a lifelong conman (Can I get an amen for Trump University, anyone?) with no belief system deserves our full devotion. That if a person disagrees with you, their perspective is worthless. That God can only be on one side—Chad Williams’ side. That trolling is something Jesus would have done. That the lessons of the Bible (love, compassion, caring) are nonsense and need not be followed.

It is a pathetic, precipitous fall from “Seal of God,” a virtuous book written by a virtuous man who, while still alive in 2025, died long ago.

But worry not—you can still observe Chad Williams’ ghost inside the walls of Huntington Beach’s City Hall.

It’s the one in the red cap.

1. Last I checked, racist ex-cops aren’t exactly the best Christ devotees. Just saying.