With Donald Trump’s creation of the Department of War this week, it struck me that the bloodless language of politics is dead. Now, with the War Department, Trump is applying his signature tone to “national security” itself, the most euphemism-laden topic in American life. The keepers of euphemism issued one fact check after another about how a mayor can’t unilaterally issue a rent freeze. From “rent freeze” to the migrant “invasion” by the “worst of the worst,” people don’t focus on the fine print. Hegseth, like Trump, doesn’t have much to say beyond “win.”Leave a commentShare— Edited by William M. Arkin