This is an entry in Patrick Blanchfield’s column about the second Trump term. In the summer of 2002 , the United States put together a military exercise with a name that broadcast the nation’s ambitions for projecting force not just into a New American Century, but beyond. Years in the planning, and costing around $250 million ($435 million today), the “Millennium Challenge” was the single most expensive simulation the military had ever mounted. Mustering some 13,500 American servicepersons across military branches and theaters for three weeks of intricate joint-service operations, the enterprise sought to put the latest in military doctrine, hardware, and communications infrastructure to the test. With the war in Afghanistan in full swing and the invasion of Iraq on the near horizon, the wargame also offered George W. Bush and his cabinet a nonpareil opportunity to rehearse their much-coveted fantasy of taking the global war on terror to the next target on the Axis of Evil: Iran.…