From Defense to War: Trump’s Aggressive Rebrand
Poster released by the White House on renaming of Department of Defense! (Image X.com)
By restoring the historic title “Department of War” alongside the Department of Defense, Donald Trump signals a return to blunt nationalism, sparking applause from critics of “defense euphemisms” and unease among global observers.
By TRH Global Affairs Desk
NEW DELHI, September 6, 2025 — In a move steeped in symbolism, US President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order restoring the title “Department of War” as a secondary name for the Department of Defense. The White House insists the legal designation remains unchanged, yet the political theatre of this decision is unmistakable.
For Trump’s MAGA base, this is red meat: a repudiation of what they see as decades of “politically correct” euphemisms and globalist language. By reintroducing the blunt label “War,” Trump taps into a nostalgia for a muscular, unapologetic America—one that projects power rather than hides it behind the veneer of “defense.”
Journalist Paul McLeary clarified on X: “Per the White House—legally it is still the Department of Defense. The Department of War is a ‘secondary title.’” But Asia analyst Evan A. Feigenbaum observed that the administration is going far beyond symbolism: “And that’s why they’ve changed the web domain, everyone’s titles, and all the signage. That’s some pretty intense cosplay for something that the White House says is legally named something else.”
The reactions capture the split-screen reality of Trump’s America. On one hand, academic Jason Hickel cheered the shift: “This is wonderful news… The US ‘department of defense’ has never been primarily about defense; it is a euphemism for an institution mostly focused on wars of imperial aggression. At least now there is no pretending otherwise.”
For Trump’s critics, however, the renaming reeks of authoritarian bravado. Foreign policy expert Kori Schake warned in a TV interview that “symbols matter in international politics. To restore the ‘Department of War’ is to abandon even the aspiration of defense and to project a message of aggression, not deterrence.”
Meanwhile, retired Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, once chief of staff to Secretary Colin Powell, lamented that the change “signals to the world that America has embraced war as policy rather than a tragic necessity.”
The White House framed the order as historical restoration, noting the United States used “Department of War” until 1947, when post-World War II reorganization gave birth to the Department of Defense. But in today’s fractured political climate, symbolism is substance. The move dovetails with Trump’s broader nationalist messaging: unapologetic, combative, and designed to rally a base that thrives on performative defiance of “establishment norms.”
At home, Trump cements his populist narrative: no more hiding behind bureaucratic euphemisms. Abroad, the implications are darker—an America advertising itself less as guarantor of stability and more as wielder of raw power.
The renaming may be “cosplay,” as Feigenbaum quipped, but it is cosplay with consequences. It tells allies and adversaries alike that under Trump, America does not merely defend—it wars.
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