America’s new-age military populism takes shape

As the second Trump administration nears the midpoint of its term, ‘a rapidly changing America’ appears to be a most apt description. Internal and external repositioning has cast the United States in a new light, forcing recalibrations across countries and regions. While Washington’s foreign policy shifts and their repercussions have been the most palpable external lens, consequential internal changes are beginning to shake the old structures of governance, security and finance. One of the most noticeable, indeed momentous, changes is the renaming of the Department of Defense (DoD) as the Department of War (DoW) — its original historical name. This exercise in rechristening itself may be a microcosm symbolising the Trump administration’s attempts to redraw the arc of America. And Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of War, is at the helm of that endeavour.