This is something Trump actually posted today.
Needless to say, this isn’t funny.
I want to write about changing the name of the Department of Defense to Department of War. To change the name officially requires the consent of Congress, but I’m sure Trump’s people at the DoD/W will go ahead and put the change through. (Don’t throw the old stationary out, military folks. A future administration will change the name back.)
It takes a chickenhawk like Trump — and a man-child with obvious unresolved Mommy issues like Pete Hegseth — to think this rebrand is a good idea. Tom Nichols at The Atlantic has a good backgrounder on the Department of War becoming the Department of Defense in 1949. A succession of presidents with real-world battle experience, beginning with World War I vet Harry Truman and one-time Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower, were fine with this. A generation of Americans who had lived through World War II were fine with this. Naturally, Captain Bone Spurs has a different idea.
President Trump signed an executive order on Friday that ceremonially recognized the Defense Department as the “Department of War,” a name that was dropped after World War II and that the president claimed had caused the country to enter wars it “never fought to win.”
“We won World War II. We won everything before, and as I said, we won everything in between,” Mr. Trump said at an event in the Oval Office, where he signed the order. “And we were very strong, but we never fought to win. We just didn’t fight to win.”
Mr. Trump argued that the name, which was changed by President Harry S. Truman to combine all of branches of the military, had been changed because the country “decided to go woke.”
“I think the Department of War sends a signal,” Mr. Trump said. The change, he argued, was a “much more appropriate name, especially in light of where the world is right now.”
And it was in a less perilous place in 1949? I don’t think so. That was the year Mao Zedong took control of China, among other things. But let’s go on …
About winning wars — I remember this is something I used to rant about during the Iraq War. The nature of war itself has changed. For centuries it was conventional for nations to declare war on each other, and then the war continued until one side was forced to surrender. And then there was an official ceremony and a treaty, and it was over. But nations don’t declare war any more, and wars don’t seem to begin or end on fixed calendar dates. And there’s a difference of opinion about why that’s true. But instead of declared wars what happens these days are intermittent episodes of military action. Two adversaries may stop fighting for awhile, but that doesn’t mean the “war” is “over” or that anybody “won.” And it’s often the case that one of the adversaries isn’t even a nation, but rather some kind of organization that crosses borders, like al Qaeda. The last time the U.S. officially declared war was in June 1942, when Congress declared war on the Axis-aligned nations of Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania.
If you long for sweet, total military victory in a war, you need a time machine. Because nobody’s doing that any more, anywhere on the planet that I can see. Once again, Trump isn’t keeping up with the times.
Trump clearly has war on his mind, which worries me. Is he thinking of starting a war with somebody? Venezuela is probably on his short list. Maybe he thinks if the nation is at war he can cancel the midterms? If we didn’t cancel elections in the Civil War I don’t think so, but he might try it.
And regarding Chicago, Trump might want to think twice before messing with Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
In other news: ICE’s latest escapade is turning into an international incident. ICE raided a Hyundai Motor-LG car battery factory in Georgia, and among those detained were 300 South Koreans. And now South Korea is pissed. But what a great way to discourage foreign countries from building factories in the U.S., right?
Also, I am once again rattling the tin cup to raise some money to pay for a dental procedure scheduled for Thursday. All help is appreciated. Here’s the gofundme link, or you can use the donate button at the top of the right-hand column to pay through PayPal,
“I think the Department of War sends a signal,” Mr. Trump said. The change, he argued, was a “much more appropriate name, especially in light of where the world is right now.”
For once I agree. With a belligerant clown running the most powerful country on earth, residents of planet earth are taking note of "where the world is right now". It won't be long before America gets voted off the island.
He wants a fight in Chicago. Hence the timing of "the Department of War", "Chipocalypse", the taunting on Lies Social and so on. After a couple pilot cities, he's selected Chicago to start killing people. It's volatile enough that people there will likely engage, which is what he wants.
Good read:
https://www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/on-war-department-of-and-conflicts-to-watch
The wingers are so stupid, they misinterpret these things as macho when they are, um, not, … like the song Macho Man which is about gay alpha men and YMCA which is about ogling young men at a gym and the perfect hookup location. That scene with DeNiro ss about defeat and PTSD and refers to the waste of young men for the glory of the princely officer class. And, the cav outfit in that scene refers to the genocide of the plains indians to boot (they did not choose a regular army unit for the scene). So, ol' Orangesides is totally macho, but like the YMCA kind of macho, not the adult type.
Dang, the film is based on Conrad's Heart of Darkness where a senior officer went insane and started a death cult. Most of the Eisatzgruppen drank themselves to death before the end of the war, maybe Department of War chief will too.
Get well soon, I used the link.
Hahahahaha, they are so stupid, this image is on the war.gov website:
https://www.eschatonblog.com/2025/09/the-american-empire.html
It brags that the Dept of War has about 4800 sites… but the map has most of them located in RUSSIA and CHINA!!!
Laugh at the full hilarity before it is taken down by some non-idiot: https://www.war.gov/About/
Was there a merger that I was not aware of?
I think this was, for legal reasons, a major screw-up. Trump conflated the police task of immigration with the military, the Pentagon, and war. A judge ruled the use of the National Guard in LA was illegal. In the appeal, DOJ has to say that the Guard was only there to protect lives and property against rioters. But what Trump is proposing for Chicago is war, in the US, against our citizens. It's not the picture liberals are painting. This is Trump's post.
People are demonstrating against Trump everywhere. (DC had huge numbers and passing a Methodist Church, bells ringing. Nice framing there.) Trump wants to suppress it, not by criminalizing it, but by waging war against citizens. The DOJ tried to criminalize activism against ICE. Grand juries are not bringing back indictments. Mass demonstrations have the potential of stealing the media spotlight.
The question is whether the USSC will put a leash on Trump's use of the military within the US when the governor of a state has not requested intervention. But Trump has made it impossible to construe his purpose as benign.
But Trump has made it impossible to construe his purpose as benign.
There are loads of right wingers (and bots and bot farms) who disagree. Democrats, and anyone opposing Trump are being demonized as pro-criminal.
You are going to be hearing this a lot in 2026. They are fueling a mob to be as angry with Democrats as people were in the middle ages against witches. It's going to take on a religious dimension.
I read that Peter Thiel spoke at the Commonwealth Club in California – a private gathering as far as I can tell. His topic was "the Anti-Christ". That's the level of demonization I expect from this crowd in 2026. If they could burn us at the stake, they would.
Performance Art in the theater of the absurd directed and starring fearless leader and a cast of crazies. Season I Version 2.
Wars:
1. Trade
2. Civil
3. Immigration
4. Proxy
True False (Circle One) Is it wise to let our fearless leader decide what war is?
Yes, I am crediting this blog and David French whose piece in the NYT stated:
and more, much more, even some Latin.
It is my responsibility for adding political theater to the discussion. I'm not sure if theater of the absurd is strong enough language for this horror story. It will have to do for now.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/opinion/trump-venezuela-airstrike-laws.html?unlocked_article_code=1.kE8.CfD2.ctqS1KMViVN5&smid=url-share
I hope that link works. and it comes in podcast form too.
The link works and the article is clear thinking, clear writing. TY.
Still reading comments to the David French piece, with this one by Fuago:
Excellent use of the run on sentence if I ever saw it. Well done.
Wow, indeed that is a whopper of a run-on sentence. Might be the longest one I have ever read, although Melville might have it beat somewhere in his writings. And I am rather fond of Melville.
"Chipocolypse now" This is all just more deflection from his pedophile problems, bad job numbers, court case losses and of course all of the demonstrations going on. This is what diaper don does, he puts out all of this nonsense and our media falls for it every time. Hook, line and sinker!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOeELtc6fqg
What I've been thinking about is that someone in his coterie (Stephen Miller?) is putting out the "Chipocalypse Now" meme. Trump is too addled and not clever enough to come up with this.
And it's really Miller whose hatred is fueling this.
Of course. I don't mean to deny the possibility that he will send troops to Chicago, I think he will but my point is that this is Stumps tactic. He has been doing it for decades now. Every time a negative story or stories gain traction he creates another one by suggesting some bizarre scenario that may or may not be true and our media falls for it every time. In this case the media spends days talking about "going to war" with Chicago when it actually has not or may not even happen? He doesn't want people talking about the bad job numbers that came out on Friday. He plays them like a fiddle over and over again.
Yes, and no. Trump employs distraction every time he gets his you-know-what in a wringer. Deploying the National Guard to Chicago (when/if Trump does it), especially under the terms of a movie (Apocalypse Now) that showed the use of US military power against a defenseless village, can not be ignored.
The term, sometimes used by the military, 'pacify' may perfectly describe the mindset of the Administration regarding peaceful protest. The random and indiscriminate use of lethal force as terrorism to force civilians into submission is exactly the plan described in Trump's meme. It's also forbidden in the US Constitution.
The Epstein connection may bring down Trump. That will be a good thing. I hope and expect that bringing Trump down and restoring an aggressive DOJ will allow us to prosecute crimes for the deterrent effect. The power struggle among those who are granted pardons will fracture the New Confederacy. This is a flaw of a cult of personality.