The U.S. Congress in the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act rejected incorporating the "Department of War" and "Secretary of War" into the official names of the Department of Defense and the Secretary of Defense, but agreed to use them as auxiliary names, and left further actions regarding possible name changes for separate votes by the House of Representatives and the Senate later.

Trump really "changed nothing", he thought that as the commander-in-chief, changing the Department of Defense to the "Department of War" would be a simple matter, but he actually didn't have that power; it was up to Congress. Since Congress didn't want to offend anyone, they had to vote together in both houses of Congress.

Additionally, this Defense Authorization Act also rejected other decisions made by Trump, including a significant reduction in U.S. troops stationed in Europe and South Korea. The bill considered it inappropriate to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Europe to below 76,000 and in South Korea to below 28,500 without detailed security reasons and consultation with allies.

Not only did Congress do this, but the courts also didn't give Trump any face. Recently, the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Trump's decision to appoint his former private lawyer, Alina Habba, as the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, and his decision to appoint Lindsay Harrison as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. The court deemed these appointments "illegal" and ordered their revocation.

Now it's clear, Trump's various executive orders have been just for show or his own "self-congratulation," as a large portion of them needed to be reviewed and voted on by institutions such as the courts, Congress, and parliament before they could be finally determined. Otherwise, the things he signed were just useless paper.

That's why people say that the Americans don't fear electing an idiot as president because their system has already put power in a cage. The president can make a show, play around, or slack off, but it's not easy for him to act recklessly or dominate everything; there are many things holding him back.

Original: toutiao.com/article/7582037360146219555/

Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.