President Trump set to make history by signing his 200th executive order this term
The president will make history when he signs his 200th executive order, which will reportedly rename the Department of Defense to the Department of War
by Summer Lane | September 5, 2025
President Donald Trump is set to sign his 200th executive order on Friday, setting a historic record for his administration and eclipsing the work pace of past administrations by leaps and bounds.
Friday’s executive order will officially direct the Department of Defense to be renamed the Department of War, a move that hearkens back to the department’s original roots under the leadership of the Founding Fathers.
In 1789, President George Washington signed a bill into law establishing the U.S. War Department.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said during a recent cabinet meeting, “It’s not just about words, it’s about the warrior ethos, it’s about what the department is supposed to be.”
He continued, “George Washington started the Department of War because he wanted us to WIN our wars. Our founders didn’t want endless foreign entanglements; they didn’t want endless contingencies and deployments. They wanted an empowered military, [where] the handcuffs were taken off, to fight to win.”
In a later interview with Fox News, Hegseth explained, “We won World War I, and we won World War II, not with a Department of Defense, but with a War Department…the president has said, we’re not just defense, we’re offense.”
Hegseth once again defended the “warrior ethos,” highlighting the administration’s goal of creating and attracting more “warriors” who understand “how to exact lethality on the enemy.”
In late August, SpaceX CEO and one-time Trump administration advisor Elon Musk noted on X, “‘Department of War’ is the honest name. Should be changed back imo.”
The president’s upcoming EO, which marks his 200th executive action in just a handful of months, is astonishing. According to the Washington Times, President Trump has signed more EOs in these first few months of his second term than the “past 16 presidents combined during the same point in their presidencies.”
Photo: Adobe Stock
