‘Department of War’: Trump says the quiet part out loud

On Friday 5 September, Donald Trump will sign his 200th executive order since coming to office. This order will rebrand the US Department of Defense as the ‘Department of War’. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is posturing that the US stands ready to “blow up” foreign criminals.

Both of these actions are typical of far-right posturing and warmongering. This is worrying, yes, but it’s hardly anything new. The US has a long history of violent foreign interventionism, under Republican and Democratic governments.

The ‘Department of Defense’ has always been a department of war. Trump is just saying the quiet part out loud.

The Department of War

Regarding the departmental rebrand – which comes with a hefty billion-dollar price tag – the executive order states that:

The name ‘Department of War’ conveys a stronger message of readiness and resolve compared to ‘Department of Defense,’ which emphasizes only defensive capabilities.

Trump himself went on to add:

Everybody likes that we had an unbelievable history of victory when it was the Department of War…Then we changed it to Department of Defense.

The US War Department was first created in 1789, and continued under that name until 1947. It’s certainly true that some of the States’ most resounding military defeats, such as Vietnam and Afghanistan, took place after the rebrand.

However, it is difficult to tie these defeats to the renaming of the department, rather than say, growing pressure from the anti-war movement or a failure to adapt to guerilla warfare. Trump’s lack of expertise in this area of history is understandable though, given that he was exempt from the draft due to claims of bone spurs in his heels.

The US Congress is responsible for creating executive departments like the newly minted Department of War. As such, their involvement would be expected in the proposed name-change. However, with typical disregard for process, Trump told reporters that:

We’re just going to do it. I’m sure Congress will go along, if we need that. I don’t think we even need that.

‘Waging war’

On the same day that Trump signs his new order, secretary of state Marco Rubio was making a visit to Ecuador. There, he announced that the US will name Los Lobos and Los Choneros – two of Ecuador’s most prominent gangs – as terrorist organisations.

Rubio also stated that the US is willing to “blow up” foreign criminals, and indicated that he has the support of the other nations in question:

Now they’re gonna help us find these people and blow them up, if that’s what it takes.

Contrary to this statement, neither the Ecuadorian or Mexican governments have indicated that they are willing to help with military strikes.

When questioned over whether this means that the US will exercise unilateral force  against criminals such as drug traffickers from other nations, Rubio tried to brush past the question:

The president has said he wants to wage war on these groups because they’ve been waging war on us for 30 years and no-one has responded.

But there’s no need to do that in many cases with the friendly governments, because the friendly governments are going to help us.

The quiet part

Rubio made his pronouncements mere days after the US carried out a military strike on a motorboat in the Caribbean sea. Trump claimed that this killed 11 “narcoterrorists“, in his words, whilst they smuggled drugs into the US. However, the identities of the deceased have not been released. Legal experts consulted by the BBC that the strike could have contravened international human rights and maritime law.

So, on the one hand we have a warlike rebranding of the Defense Department to “project strength and resolve”. On the other hand, we have the US branding foreign criminals as terrorists, and demonstrating that they are more than willing to violate international law and carry out military actions against them.

It would be easy to point out that this ever-increasing focus on military might, and on crime and punishment, is straight out of a fascist playbook. This is true, of course. Public discourse is already awash with think-pieces on the authoritarianism of Donald Trump and his allies.

However, it’s also true that – since its inception – the US Defense Department has always been a Department of War. Its interests have never been limited to national security. Just last year, America maintained around 170,000 active-duty troops in 750 military bases spread across 80+ countries.

The US has littered recent history with the disastrous fallout of its foreign wars, proxy conflicts and interventions. The most recent war in Afghanistan alone claimed the lives of over 70,000 civilians.

So yes, Trump’s rebrand of the War Department is authoritarian posturing. Yes, it’s a worrying indication of conflicts to come, and America’s gleeful anticipation of them. But it’s also one of the few true things the man has ever said.

Featured image via the Canary