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LetMyPeopleVote

(182,091 posts)
22. Trump wants to rebrand the Defense Department as the 'Department of War'
Fri Sep 5, 2025, 05:21 PM
Sep 2025

The president insisted that he and his team were “gonna change the name” of the Defense Department. As it turns out, that isn’t quite right.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-wants-rebrand-defense-department-department-war-rcna229303

It would be far more accurate to say that Trump likes to pretend he’s good at branding, and that leads him in some unfortunate directions. NBC News reported on Trump’s upcoming executive order to add “Department of War” as the secondary title of the Defense Department:

The order, which Trump is expected to sign in the Oval Office, won’t rename the Defense Department, but it will authorize Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to use secondary titles like ‘secretary of war’ and ‘Department of War’ in official correspondence and public communications and during formal ceremonies, according to a White House preview of the order. Trump will require all executive departments and agencies to ‘recognize and accommodate these secondary titles in internal and external communications.


......At a White House event last week, a reporter reminded the president that it would require an act of Congress to rename a Cabinet agency. He replied, “We’re just gonna do it.”

The comment now makes more sense: Trump isn’t renaming the department; he’s wrapping a new skin around it like a cheap sedan.

We’ve been headed down this path for much of the year. The first hint came in March, when the president published an item to his social media platform that referred in passing to the Pentagon as “the Department of War.” A few months later, he reiterated his interest in the change and even referred to Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth as the “secretary of war.”.....

On the other hand, Trump has also destabilized international alliances and institutions, announced plans to acquire countries that don’t appear to have any interest in joining the United States, launched a preemptive strike against Iran, militarized his own country’s capital, mused about launching military strikes against targets in Mexico and Central America, boasted about a military strike against a civilian boat in international waters and is now rebranding the Pentagon — because “we want offense, too.”

If he’s still angling to get that Nobel, he might want to lower his expectations.

trump knows that he does not have votes in congress to officially change the name and so is playing a game here

Recommendations

1 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

Who isn't? GreenWave Aug 2025 #1
rump Pictured Heading to Golf After Death Speculation struggle4progress Aug 2025 #2
I read he's only playing nine holes Captain Zero Aug 2025 #12
He looks like he's melting. marble falls Aug 2025 #15
JD's planning to drop a house on him. TACO better get in the WH hidey-hole if there's a tornado in DC. marble falls Aug 2025 #3
Relax! He's fine! struggle4progress Aug 2025 #4
Because his extensive experience... buzzycrumbhunger Aug 2025 #5
I bet he's got new couches already picked out. nt Xolodno Aug 2025 #6
Keep talking about that, JD. Trump will love it! tanyev Aug 2025 #7
Yes Trump cannot be too happy with this statement. Irish_Dem Aug 2025 #8
Must be the powers behind the throne are setting things up for a transfer of power. Biophilic Aug 2025 #9
Yes, Trump's talk of heaven and JD's statement have the feeing of a campaign to prepare the ground, as it were. Xavier Breath Aug 2025 #16
Someone should convince him the 25th amendment is the only JI7 Aug 2025 #10
And if he serves a day more than two years of TACO's term, Sofastainer will only be eligable for one more term. marble falls Aug 2025 #17
He has the charisma of a wet moldy towel. JanMichael Aug 2025 #11
I do believe all these so called secret meetings have been with the power brokers Bev54 Aug 2025 #13
Tanned, rested and ready to step in, and with two (count them two) survivors of S.A. "White Genocide" to help him. usonian Aug 2025 #14
Back to our regularly scheduled program: White House moves forward on plans for a Department of War LeftInTX Aug 2025 #18
Trump wants to rebrand the Defense Department as the 'Department of War' LetMyPeopleVote Sep 2025 #22
It is still the Department of Defense LetMyPeopleVote Sep 2025 #23
What does Rebl2 Aug 2025 #19
He reminds me of Alexander Haig when Reagan was shot. no_hypocrisy Aug 2025 #20
Will his first directive in office be to replace the Oval Office couch with a more seductive one? Ping Tung Aug 2025 #21
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