President Trump’s decision to return the nation’s military to its 1789 factory settings as the "Department of War" sends a message with the subtlety of a monster truck rally — of deterrence to America’s enemies and resolve to America’s allies.

But they are not its primary target.

While the blast radius of Trump’s rebranding will reach Brussels and Beijing, the intended impact is much closer to home.

The name "Department of War" serves as a resounding rebuke to policymakers, politicians and professors who seek to inject their intrusive thoughts of stylish strategies and social engineering onto America’s military.

For decades, these misguided groups have mistakenly seen the world as a diorama for experimentation, themselves as a Disney fairy godmother and the American military as social workers.

Their take on war and peace is as contrived and cringeworthy as the Kendall Jenner Pepsi commercial, and it has yielded disasters from Somalia to Afghanistan.

For Trump, a man who works in monikers the way Monet worked in oils, the rebranding is a torpedo to the engine room for these misguided efforts. Using the men and women of the United States military for anything other than to close with and kill the enemy is like using Picasso to paint a fence.

The Department of Defense name was adopted in 1949 — not coincidentally the same year the........

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