ManhattanCaucus:Trump AdministrationSparksInstitutional ShiftsAcrossGovernmentBranches
Elaina Batista Asst. Social Media Editor
On Sept. 5, 2025, the Trump administration enacted an executive order that changed the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War. According to the White House official website, this change is to, “demonstrate our ability and willingness to fight and win wars on behalf of our Nation at a moment’s notice.”
The White House has stated that this new title will serve as a secondary name, but is to be used and recognized by, “official correspondence, public communications, ceremonial contexts and nonstatutory documents within the executive branch,” according to the site. This move restored the name of the department which was last held in the 1940s.
Officials predict that more than 700,000 Department of Defense seals will need to be changed, in 40 countries and all 50 states. The White House has yet to make it clear on how much this change will cost, but it is expected to be around $1 billion. This cost includes the change of emblems, email addresses and uniforms,
amongst other things. The Pentagon has already changed the website’s name to war.gov.
“This name change is not just about renaming, it’s about restoring… words matter,”
Pete Hegseth, now Secretary of War, said during the signing of the executive order, as reported by BBC.
There was some dissent regarding the change amongst officials.
“This is purely for domestic political audiences…Not only will this cost millions of dollars, it will have absolutely zero impact on Chinese or Russian calculations,” a former defense official with the Pentagon said about the change, according to an article published by Politico.
In the past two weeks, the renaming of the former Department of Defense was not the only decision made by the Trump administration that caused dissent in Washington. More recently, Senate Republicans called for a “nuclear option” that would allow them to confirm Trump nominees in groups, rather than one at a time, by altering the rules that define GOP party lines. The vote was 53-45, which established a new rule that allows the Senate to confirm an unlimited number.
A
picture of the
current Supreme Court justices.
COLLECTION OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES / COURTESY
The rule applies to executive branch nominees, subject to two hours of Senate debate, which includes subcabinet picks and ambassadors. Both parties have previously utilized the option to shorten the debate time for nominations and weaken the 60-vote filibuster limit for judges.
To start the process of establishing this new norm, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., released a package of 48 Trump nominees. Democrats contend that Trump is attempting
to appoint an unprecedented number of unfit aides to the administration, which calls for extraordinary levels of scrutiny, according to an article published on NBC News.
The changes the Trump administration has imposed are not limited to the executive and legislative branch, they have extended to the judiciary branch as well. In a 6-3 ruling in Vasquez Perdomo v. Noem , the Supreme Court granted the Trump Administration’s emergency request to lift a restraining order that blocked racial profiling by immigration agents in Los Angeles, according to MSNBC.
“We should not have to live in a country where the government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks spanish, and appears to work a low wage job,”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor said.
“Rather than stand idly by while
our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent.”
Justice Sotomayor penned a 21-page dissent for the high court’s three Democratic appointees. In the dissent, she states, “unconscionably irreconcilable with our Nation’s constitutional guarantees.” Additionally, Sotomayor appeared on Stephen Colbert’s “Late Night” to discuss her new children’s book, but discussed some of the frustrations she has with her more conservative colleagues. Earlier in the week, the justice appeared on The View as well, where she went even more in-depth as to the implications behind the recent ruling.
Manhattan Caucus will return next Tuesday with more news from local and national politics.
