Mehdi Hasan: ‘I Actually Owe Trump And Hegseth An Apology’

Journalist Mehdi Hasan facetiously tried to atone for criticizing President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s rebranding of the defense department.

“I actually owe Trump and Hegseth an apology,” the former MSNBC host wrote in his viral X post Monday. “I mocked them for renaming the Department of Defense the Department of War, but they’ve sure made that new name an accurate one.”

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I actually owe Trump and Hegseth an apology. I mocked them for renaming the Department of Defense the Department of War, but they’ve sure made that new name an accurate one.

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) March 2, 2026

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I actually owe Trump and Hegseth an apology. I mocked them for renaming the Department of Defense the Department of War, but they’ve sure made that new name an accurate one.

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) March 2, 2026

Using an executive order, Trump announced the secondary title in September to much mockery ― but now it echoes like a dark prophecy.

The United States is at war (even if Rep. Anna Paulina Luna doesn’t think so) after joining Israel in the bombing of Iran. The operation has taken out its iron-fisted leader, Ali Khamenei, resulting in multiple deaths of Americans, and perhaps entrenched the U.S. in an escalating conflict without Congressional approval.

Trump and his cabinet can’t seem to get their stories straight on why they attacked Iran, but Hegseth seemed certain about why he wanted to resurrect the obsolete “War Department” title last year.

“We’re going to go on offense, not just on defense,” Hegseth said at the time. “Maximum lethality, not tepid legality. Violent effect, not politically correct.”

In October, Hasan went after Trump’s rebrand amid the administration’s repeated strikes on suspected drug smuggling vessels.

“He’s literally renamed the department of defense the department of war and is ordering the bombing of fishing boats in the Caribbean,” the Zeteo founder wrote.

Mehdi Hasan gave the Trump administration a lot of grief for its rebranding of the Defense Department in light of the U.S. attack on Iran.
Mehdi Hasan gave the Trump administration a lot of grief for its rebranding of the Defense Department in light of the U.S. attack on Iran.

Bloomberg via Getty Images

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