Trump warned Pentagon rebrand will make US a laughing stock

Donald Trump is back at it again with another executive order, and this time he’s got his sights set on the Pentagon.

The former president, who wasted no time churning out executive orders after sliding back into the Oval Office in January, is now pushing through a move that hasn’t been seen in decades: renaming the Department of Defense.

Yep, if Trump gets his way, the DoD will officially be known as the Department of War.

According to documents seen by the BBC, the reasoning is that “Department of War” supposedly sends a much stronger message than “Department of Defense,” which apparently just makes America sound like it’s sitting around waiting to get hit.

The order even directs Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to come up with ways (both legally and through more executive action) to make the name change permanent.

Hegseth, who is clearly all-in on the rebrand, explained on Fox News: “We won WWI, and we won WWII, not with the Department of Defense, but with a War Department. We’re not just defense, we’re offense.”

He doubled down, saying the Pentagon wants to bring back a “warrior ethos,” arguing that names matter and this one shows the world the US is ready to strike, not just block punches.

While Team Trump is hyping the change, the internet isn’t exactly impressed.

One person fumed on Twitter/X: “This is so stupid and it’s going to make us a laughing stock in front of both our allies and our enemies.”

Another chimed in: “Renaming the Department of Defense to the Department of War, because it is more intimidating to our adversaries, is stupid.”

Someone else was just confused: “I don’t understand why he wants to do this? Just a whim?”

And another pointed out the price tag: “Changing the name… is dumb for lots of reasons, but not least of which is it’s just a huge waste of money.”

The backlash has even sparked comparisons to Trump’s bizarre rebrand earlier this year when his administration declared the Gulf of Mexico would officially be called the “Gulf of America.” (Spoiler: the rest of the world didn’t exactly get on board with that one.)

For context, the US did once have a Department of War; the name stuck until 1947, when it was swapped for the Department of Defense after WWII. Trump, though, has argued that America’s “unbelievable history of victory” came under the old name, so why not bring it back?

Whether you think it’s bold branding or just plain ridiculous, one thing’s for sure: it’s classic Trump.