Department of War – Trump’s Return to 1789

You rub your eyes, but the president is serious. Donald J. Trump, 79 years old, wants to rename the Pentagon. The Department of Defense is to become the Ministry of War again. War as a brand, war as a self-concept, war as branding. The future means the past, and if Trump has his way, even the past with stars and fanfare. The reasoning is as simple as it is revealing: “Defense is too defensive,” the president explained. “We want to be defensive, but also offensive if we have to.” Anyone who hears from the White House these days how “offensive” is to become a government program knows: this “if we have to” is as stretchable as chewing gum. And while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announces “his war” with the grin of a television preacher, the world watches as America takes a step back - back to an era when the country waged war against Mexico, Spain, and half continents, without even bothering to call it anything else.

One could laugh if it were not so serious. A president who publicly romanticizes war because he wants to present himself as a victorious commander is not a parody but a governing reality. Trump speaks of “our incredible history of victories” and by this he means not only the two world wars but also all the forgotten wars that were fought under the banner of the Ministry of War - against Indigenous peoples, against neighboring states, against opponents who never had a chance. Anyone who senses sentimentality here is wrong: it is the manifesto of a government that once again understands war as an expression of national strength, as a stage on which power is displayed.

The grotesque comedy lies in the fact that this president paints the term “wokeness” on the wall as an enemy image, only to then plunge into a state of national nostalgia that borders on historical kitsch. The Department of Defense is said to be too soft, too fogged by diplomacy and morality. Trump wants to bring back the sound of war - as if it were a soundtrack that only needs to be turned up louder to regain respect in the world. Senator Rick Scott is already rejoicing, saying this shows America’s “true ability to win wars.” Senator Andy Kim counters: Americans want to prevent wars, not celebrate them. But Trump’s America is not marching into the future, it is marching backward - drums included. And so here we are, in the year 2025, seriously debating whether the country that built atomic bombs should again call its defense apparatus the Ministry of War. It would be funny if it were not the last word on the condition of a nation that looks into the mirror and does not see peace, not security, but the glory of battle. A president who celebrates the word “war” like a marketing gimmick is no joke but a warning signal.