It's the Brian Larry Show on WNIC. Good morning again, everyone. As we discussed in the last segment, President Trump has renamed the Department of Defense, the Department of War. On its face, it may

sound like just semantics, but what does a signal about how his administration wants to wield

American power and how the world sees us? What does his MAGA base think about this, since they

elected him in part to get us out of wars. Fred Kaplan, longtime slate columnist

on war and diplomacy and the author of many nonfiction books, and now a novel, by the way,

his novel is called A Capital Calamity. Fred argues that this move, renaming it to the Department

of War, is both historically misguided and politically dangerous. And the symbolism

isn't the only story here. Last week, Trump ordered a U.S. Special Forces strike on a Venezuelan

boat in international waters, killing all 11 people on board. Trump says they were smuggling

drugs into the United States, but has offered

no evidence. Typically, drug interdiction is a Coast Guard mission, since it's the only branch of the

armed forces with law enforcement authority at sea. Using special forces for such an operation

is unusual and some say legally dubious.

So what do these moves reveal about the president's worldview,

about the militarization of U.S. policy,

about the blurred line between performance and power, perhaps?

We'll ask Fred Kaplan, who joins us now.

Hi, Fred, always glad to have you on the show.

And listeners, any reaction to President Trump renaming the Defense Department, the Department of War?

Does the language matter?

And any comments or questions on the decision to attack that Venezuelan boat, 212, 433, WNYC, 212, 433, 96,

92. Fred, you there? Do we have you? Oh, I think we don't have him yet. Well, while we're

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