Trump’s ‘War Department’ rebrand lays bare US militarism, strips away ‘defense’ pretense

By Hamid Javadi

In a move that sounds both ironic and revealing, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday to rebrand the Department of Defense as the Department of War.

In doing so, Trump, who has been gunning for a Nobel Peace Prize and has promised to end the protracted wars in Gaza and Ukraine, is bringing back a title that was last used when horse-drawn cannons were still in vogue.

His rationale? The Department of War “just sounded better” and “had a stronger sound” to it. 

Coming from a man with a long history of bending the truth, the move may have been just about the most honest thing he has done in his two terms as president.

He’s just calling a spade a spade.

Throughout the country’s history, American presidents have taken the US to war numerous times and squandered billions of dollars in taxpayers’ money under the pretext of defending the nation and its so-called “interests.”

Practically speaking, none of those unprovoked and illegitimate wars, from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan, had posed any threat to the American state and its national interests.

To a country that has been at war without a pause since World War II, waging war is more than about defending national interests. It is about fanning the war economy and keeping its vast military industrial complex up and running. 

Perhaps no one has put it more bluntly and matter-of-factly than former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. She once famously said, “What’s the point of having this superb military that you’re always talking about if we can’t use it?”

Albright put that question to then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell in 1997, when she was pushing for the US military involvement in the Balkans.

For reasons that may have nothing to do with sound decision-making and everything to do with a wanton love for power, Trump is doing away with the long-used pretext.

To the egotistical and narcissistic commander-in-chief and his base of “MAGA” supporters, defense is what losers do. A “great America” must win wars, not simply defend itself.

The Department of War was originally established by George Washington in 1789, back when powdered wigs were the height of fashion

It was called by that name for more than a century and a half, during which time the US went to wars against Britain, Spain, Mexico, and the Philippines, and just about anyone who looked at the US with sarcasm, including Native Americans.

President Harry Truman retired the name in 1947, presumably because the War Department didn’t play well in America’s post-nuclear public relations.

But Trump, ever the branding guru, believes the old name has a beautiful ring to it, much like the sound of saber-rattling echoing through the halls of the White House.

In unveiling his executive order on Friday, Trump made it sound as if the switch to “Defense” was the moment America started losing wars and gaining nuance.

While the rebrand may be part of a drive to restore “warrior ethos” to the Pentagon, it is also a headache for thousands workers at the Department of War who now face the monumental, yet petty, task of changing Defense Department seals on more than 700,000 facilities in all 50 states and dozens of countries, with a price tag that could run into the billions.

As with any other controversial move by Trump, the name change was met with a flurry of reactions in Washington.

Democrats were quick to pounce. They described the decision as unnecessary, which wouldn’t change America’s military posture, could cost billions, and confuse every military contractor from Virginia to Guam.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), for instance, said Trump’s executive order was a “distraction” and that the Pentagon should be focusing on troop readiness, not rebranding stationery.

Regardless of being a distraction or not, the move would play right into the hands of America’s adversaries. It would send a more belligerent message at any summit in the future, where the US claims to be trying to “broker peace.”

It is like showing up at a peace meeting wearing brass knuckles. Whether the name change would have any bearing on Chinese or Russian calculations, for instance, remains to be seen.

At the heart of Trump’s order lies a trace of contradiction and disingenuity. Before becoming president, Trump frequently criticized US wars overseas, depicting them as costly failures.

One notable example comes from a 2015 interview with CNN, where he said, “We don’t win anymore. We lose on trade, we lose with ISIS, we lose with our military—we can’t beat anybody.”

The line became a recurring theme in his campaign speeches during his 2016 bid for president, where he often said the US had “lost every war” in recent decades, including Iraq and Afghanistan.

With his latest nomenclature, Trump exposes himself as the con artist and manipulator he is. While American voters were led to believe he was against war, he simply disliked the name under which those wars were being fought.

Trump now wants to take America back to the time when it waged wars and, to his thinking, won them, when the Pentagon was called what it actually stands for – the Department of War.

But here is the catch: Trump must also remember that taking the US to war requires a congressional declaration of war, a constitutional requirement that has frequently been discarded by every president from Bill Clinton (bombing of Yugoslavia over Kosovo), to George W. Bush (invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq), to Barack Obama (war in Libya), and Trump (2017 devastating attacks on Syria and 2025 aggression against Iran, and of course Gaza genocide).

Seeking congressional approval for war was standard procedure in Washington when the Department of Defense was called the Department of War.

Going forward, Trump’s move can make things more complicated for members of the US Congress. Would they have to rename “defense appropriations” bills as “war appropriations” bills? Will the US need to be engaged in direct military conflict for it to justify its colossal, soon-to-be “war budget”? Did Trump have that in mind when he issued his executive order to make going to war easier?

Time will provide the answer to those questions. But one thing is for sure. The American people deserve to know what their hard-earned money is being taken and used to support. It is becoming increasingly clear that it’s not defense. It’s war.

America must drop the pretence that operating more than 800 military bases worldwide at taxpayers’ expense is about defense.

Knowingly or unknowingly, Trump’s decision to rebrand the Defense Department might actually help with that.  Rhetoric matters in the world of politics.

And with that, the Department of War is back, proof that in Washington, history doesn’t just repeat itself. Sometimes, it rebrands.

Hamid Javadi is a senior Iranian journalist and commentator based in Tehran.

(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV)

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk