America just made a scary change to its government, and it’s making WW3 fears worse

President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order today that changes the Department of Defence to the Department of War.

Donald Trump has been teasing the change for months, looking to restore the department to the name it had during WW2 in an attempt to “project strength and resolve”, according to the BBC.

“The name ‘Department of War’ conveys a stronger message of readiness and resolve compared to ‘Department of Defence,’ which emphasises only defensive capabilities,” the order reportedly states.

JUST IN: Donald Trump will sign an executive order Friday to rename the Department of Defense as the Department of War, Fox News reports.

We are living in the dumbest of times. pic.twitter.com/qlD8FCMqxB

— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) September 4, 2025

Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, who will henceforth be known as the Secretary of War, told Fox News: “We won WWI, and we won WWII, not with the Department of Defence, but with a War Department, with the Department of War. As the president has said, we’re not just defence, we’re offence.

“We’ve reestablished at the Department the warrior ethos. We want warriors, folks who understand how to exact lethality on the enemy. We don’t want endless contingencies and just playing defence. We think words and names, and titles matter. So, we’re working with the White House and the president on it. Stand by.”

Amidst fears of World War III kicking off, the Department of Defence’s name change is certainly not helping things.

People have been reacting to the Department of War’s name change

Though Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth are fully behind the name change, hoping to make it permanent through various legislative measures, people online are not as keen.

“Renaming the Department of Defence to the Department of War, because it is more intimidating to our adversaries, is stupid,” one person wrote on Twitter.

This will always be Twitter not X.

The gulf will always be Mexico not America.

And it’s the Department of Defense not War.

Fuck maga.

— Warren (@swd2) September 4, 2025

“He’s so adamant on going to war, how about we put him on the front lines?” another wrote.

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Someone else said: “Trump ran as the peace candidate?!! The guy who would end wars? What a joke. He wants a department of war, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza are worse than when he was elected, and he’s after starting a war with Venezuela.”

What’s next? Changing the Department of Health and Social Care to the Department of Death and Throwing Old People in the Bin?

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Featured image credit: Po1 Alexander Kubitza/Dod/Planet Pix via ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock