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White House to rebrand Pentagon the Department of War - Politicowww.politico.com/news/2025/09/04/white-house-pentagon-department-of-war-00545673
272 sats \ 5 comments \ @Scoresby 5 Sep Politics_And_Law
When I first saw this headline, I thought it was from The Onion or The Bablyon Bee, but apparently it is real.
The article notes the US had a Department of War up until 1947. I always admired the marketing behind that decision: your military seems much more just if it's always acting in defense...
But maybe there was a negative side to it: if you only have a department of defense, you aren't very threatening.
I wonder how much we should read into the fact that the people who fought one of the largest wars our nation has ever been involved in decided to change the name of to the Department of Defense -- while the people who have not fought wars against any serious enemy are now deciding to revert the name to the Department of War.
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112 sats \ 0 replies \ @Zion 5 Sep
It looks like war is imminent with how China is already showing their military strength in their 80 years independence parade so I get the rebranding
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102 sats \ 0 replies \ @jbschirtzinger 5 Sep
I wonder how much we should read into the fact that the people who fought one of the largest wars our nation has ever been involved in decided to change the name of to the Department of Defense -- while the people who have not fought wars against any serious enemy are now deciding to revert the name to the Department of War.
You cannot always be on the defensive. I personally think the name change is an awesome move. it gets everyone ready for what is coming, too.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 5 Sep
I wonder how much we should read into the fact that the people who fought one of the largest wars our nation has ever been involved in decided to change the name of to the Department of Defense -- while the people who have not fought wars against any serious enemy are now deciding to revert the name to the Department of War.
This is a good observation. That said, I have always thought of the name change as propaganda in the line of many things we are not intended to think about clearly. I'm also reminded of the warning President Eisenhower gave about the military industrial complex.
Department of War is far more accurate though I am sure plenty of people that still believe in the liberal world order hate it. I'm not a Trump supporter but one thing of value he has provided is forcing the establishment types in both parties to expose themselves. He doesn't sugar coat stuff. He's not an honest man but he doesn't have pretense. He has no shame. Republicans and Democrats of the past have looked nice and talked nice while they command the war machine to kill people.
I'm of the opinion that I'd rather have a brute that sounds like a brute than a slick guy in suit that is pleasant but is actually a brute as well. So, to me the name change is a re-framing towards what the department of defense actually is.
I mean, why was the war department named this in the first place? Using your analogy these were people just describing the purpose of the department. I believe it was formed in 1789. Long before the modern era of propaganda. We have to be careful not to lionize the politicians and military industrial complex of the past because of WW2. War Is a Racket and there are critics of the war machine like Smedley Butler even in the 1930s.
But, I agree with your conclusion that this is also marketing/framing to make the US seem tougher. But, I'm not opposed to the rename.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Cje95 5 Sep
Oh this has been cooking for the last few months!
Trump has advocated for Peace Through Strength and has been following that. This change is just the next thing to revamp what people think of our military.
I would also note that while they might not seem serious some of the groups like ISIS were very very deadly and inspired/caused attacks across the world. Our arming of the Kurds and placing Special Forces in Syria helped prevent them from becoming a bigger more serious foe.... Also they killed a lot of Russians via the Wagner Group. Never forget the 200 v like 12? They got absolutely toasted.
I also personally factor in that in general as a rule it is safe to say the world is sliding backwards towards more conflict and possibly large scale conflict. Getting ahead of that might not be the worst idea.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @deSign_r 5 Sep
Brilliant idea of the Department of ~Design #1092331
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