“‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning,’ reads the caption for the meme Trump shared on his Truth Social platform,” an Epoch Times article informs us.
“The caption was superimposed over an image of Trump in a military-style uniform, squatting in front of a fiery backdrop, with a series of helicopters flying past a city skyline.
“‘Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,’ the meme caption continues.”
Uh, what?
It turns out that the president, in defiance of the Constitution and Posse Comitatus, aims to use the military to round up criminals (illegal aliens).
And he now insists upon calling the “Department of Defense” the “Department of War” again!
The social media post also comes a day after the president signed an executive order to refer to the Department of Defense as the Department of War, and to the position of the Secretary of Defense as the Secretary of War. A full renaming of the department and its Cabinet secretary will require an act of Congress but Trump has said the rebranding has “a stronger sound” and evokes a focus on winning wars.
President Trump, once again, is proving himself to be an old-fashioned brand management expert.
He likes the kick-assedness of “Department of War.” Secretary Hegseth appears to be gung ho on Trump’s side regarding the name preference. The date of Trump’s Executive Order is September 5, 2025, and its title is “Restoring the United States Department of War.”
The original shift to “Department of Defense” occurred in 1949 as an act of Congress, and was part of a major post-World War II reorganization to create a unified, modern military structure amid the emerging Cold War. It appeared to emphasize national security, deterrence, and efficiency over aggressive “war-making,” thus conforming to global efforts (such as the UN Charter’s ban on wars of aggression) to promote peace through strength rather than overt belligerence.
Amusingly, under the aegis of the Department of Defense, the U.S. has been at war almost uninterrupted since the name change.
Arguably, the 1949 name change was a euphemism. Also arguably, Trump’s reversal is a dysphemism.
Trump’s meme (see above) riffs on Francis Ford Coppola’s classic 1979 film, Apocalypse Now.