With the Department of Defense now rebranded as the “Department of War,” President Donald Trump shared a new video featuring an awkwardly re-titled “War Secretary” Pete Hegseth reeling off generic statements about just how tough the department will be. . .
In the video, which Trump posted to Truth Social, Hegseth glances at a script while informing Americans of the reasoning behind the rebrand.
“This name change is not just about renaming, it’s about restoring,” Hegseth said. “It’s going to fight to win, not not to lose [sic]. We’re going to go on offense, not just on defense.”
As an example, FOX “News” shows Hegseth claiming absolute authority to “smoke” people in tiny boats assumed to be drug smugglers from other countries.
Trump signed an executive order on Friday slapping the new name on the Department of Defense. However, the president does not actually have the power to officially rename a government department, making “Department of War” a secondary title. Arguing that the name change will “set the tone for this country,” Hegseth concluded with a corporate-style sign-off: “America first, peace through strength, brought to you by the War Department.”
Per Reuters, “Changing the name again will be costly and require updating signs and letterheads used not only by officials at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., but also military installations around the world.”
Why not put this money toward supporting military families or toward employing diplomats that help prevent conflicts from starting in the first place?” said Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, a military veteran and member of the Senate’s Armed Services Committee.
“Because Trump would rather use our military to score political points than to strengthen our national security and support our brave servicemembers and their families – that’s why,” she told Reuters.