Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth pose with the declaration of a US “Department of War” in the White House, Washington D.C., September 5, 2025
I spoke with LBC’s Matt Frei on Saturday about Donald Trump’s proclamation — unofficial unless Congress agrees to it — changing the US Department of Defense back to the “Department of War”.
Listen to Discussion from 1:51.46
I take apart the Orwellian nonsense of a self-declared “anti-war” Trump, who avoided military service in Vietnam through an excuse of bone spurs in his feet, posing as a war commander. I dissect Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who falsely said he served as a Marine, booming about “lethal force” regardless of the law or Constitution.
These are two wannabe tough guys who like perform and sign stuff. Trump is an emperor issuing his decrees.
You can call it the Department of Defense, the Department of War, the Department of Cotton Candy. Is the department providing security for American, for US allies, and for others abroad? Or is it chaotic, inefficient, or — even worse — being perverted to serve the interests of one man?
And I look at the real damage of the announcement: Trump’s effort to implement his authoritarian rule, including the deployment of forces on US streets, by making the militarization of American society “normal”.
He’s trying to make military on the streets an accepted part of life.
He’s trying to do it as cover for sweeping up legal immigrants, undocumented immigrants, and disappear them without rule of law.
He is also trying to sweep away the rule of law over any use of the military.
