WASHINGTON— US President Donald Trump signed an order yesterday rebranding the Department of Defence as the Department of War, saying it sent a “message of victory” to the rest of the world.

Flanked by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth at a signing ceremony at the White House, the Republican president said the current name that had been in place for more than 70 years was too “wokey.”

“I think it sends a message of victory,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office about the rebranding. “It’s a much more appropriate name in light of where the world is right now.”

The name harks back to the War Department, the title used for more than 150 years from 1789, just after independence from Britain, to 1947, shortly after World War II.

Trump cannot formally change the name of the Pentagon without the approval of Congress — but the 79-year-old’s order authorises the use of the new label as a “secondary title.”

Former Fox News host Hegseth swiftly embraced the change, posting a video of a new nameplate saying “Secretary of War” being stuck to his door at the Pentagon.

The combat veteran, named by Trump to lead a major overhaul of the sprawling department, said the change was “not just about renaming, it’s about restoring the warrior ethos.”

“Maximum lethality, not tepid legality. Violent effect, not politically correct. We’re going to raise up warriors, not just defenders,” said Hegseth.

Trump meanwhile even appeared to blame America’s military misadventures since its victories in World Wars I and II on the decision to call it the Department of Defence, which was made in 1949.

“We could have won every war, but we really chose to be very politically correct or wokey,” said Trump, who was signing the 200th executive order of his second term.