Jamelle Bouie: Trump Understands The World As A Kind Of Television Show, “Secretary Of War Sounds Better For TV”
PBS NEWSHOUR: New York Times columnists David Brooks and Jamelle Bouie join Geoff Bennett to discuss the week in politics, including what a weak jobs report says about the U.S. economy, President Trump’s push to control the Federal Reserve and Trump’s War Department rebranding at the Pentagon.
GEOFF BENNETT, PBS NEWSHOUR: As we reported earlier this evening, President Trump signed an executive order today renaming the Defense Department the Department of War, his latest move to project military toughness. You can see the old sign there at the Pentagon coming down. Jamelle, what does this rebranding suggest about – rather, how should we understand the symbolize – symbolism behind all of this as we also look at the administration’s policy and its approach using the military? JAMELLE BOUIE, NEW YORK TIMES: Yes. I – part of me wants to say that this is just kind of silly. I mean, first of all, the executive order specifically says you can call the Department of Defense Department of War as well if you want to, but officially it is still the Department of Defense, right? That’s established by congressional statute. That’s not something the president kind of just changed unilaterally. I suppose you can say that, beyond whatever P.R. thing he’s looking at, it’s supposed to signal the return of, as secretary of defense – I’m not going to call him secretary of war – Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth says, maximum lethality. And I suppose it’s demonstrated by the recent attack on the boat allegedly of Venezuelan drug dealers. But as has emerged out of that, what we see are a lot of questions about the decision-making that went into that, about the legality of that strike. This recommitment to lethality appears to also be kind of a P.R. thing. Like, I don’t see anything strategic or interested in the national security interests of the United States. What I see here is a president who understands the entire world as a kind of television show, and secretary of war sounds better for TV than secretary of defense.
