United States President Donald Trump has signed an order changing the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War in all executive statements.
In a signing ceremony from the Oval Office on Friday, Trump said the name change was part of a larger shift away from a “woke” ideology within the department. He added it would beckon in a new age of military victory.
“So we won the First World War. We won the Second World War. We won everything before that and in between. And then we decided to go woke, and we changed the name to Department of Defense,” Trump said.
“We should have won everywhere. We could have won every war, but we really chose to be very politically correct or woke.”
Administration officials said the name “Department of War” would be used in official White House correspondence and public statements. But a more permanent change would require Congress to pass new legislation.
To that end, Trump added he would ask Congress to codify the name into law.
The new name has been widely interpreted as a reflection of a more aggressive foreign-policy posture under President Trump.
Since taking office for a second term, Trump has overseen bombing campaigns in Yemen, Iran and the southern Caribbean Sea.
Those military actions come despite an inaugural promise to be “a peacemaker and a unifier” while in office.
[Aljazeera]
