Allegorically speaking, it’s January 20, 2025 and the US has a new president. He happens to be a narcissistic sociopath who is familiar with the autocratic strategies laid out in the memoir My Struggle.
The new president’s legal minions have had months to prepare their boss to become the most powerful person in the world and a “king above the law.” They have carefully analyzed the Supreme Court’s opinion on presidential immunity and have concluded that the new president can take any action that would ordinarily be a crime with impunity, as long as it is an “official act.” (Of course, the Supreme Court reserved solely for itself the power to decide whether a future acts is an “official act” or not.)
On day one, the new president’s first official act is to issue a secret written order to his acting Attorney General calling for an FBI SWAT team to lure to Wahington DC and arrest (and lock up) his top political opponents. There is some push-back (like the threatened resignations during the Watergate scandal), but after a few arrests and imprisonment of top FBI leaders, the team is assembled.
The new president’s acting Attorney General assures the team that the new president will pardon all participants (a “core constitutional power” of the presidency) thus ensuring that they cannot be prosecuted. The AG also explains that no state law will be broken because the arrests and confinements would occur in DC, which is not a state and does not have state courts. Moreover, Congress can overturn laws passed by the Government of the District of Columbia anyway. Over time (after the initial “Night of the Long Knives 2.0″ purge), any needed assassinations would occur, as stubborn opponents “fall” out of windows or are poisoned with Russian nerve gas or plutonium.
On day two, the new president’s second official act is to issue another secret written order to his acting Attorney General. The secret written order requires the Department of Justice to arrest and detain in DC members of the House of Representatives and Senate who are likely to lead efforts to impeach him in the House and convict him in the Senate of “high crimes,” or otherwise thwart his takeover of the country in a self-coup, a putsch. This ensures that the new president is not removed by Congress during his current four-year term and that any changes in the law he desires are passed. This is possible because the Supreme Court recently ruled that “evidence concerning acts for which the president is immune can play no role in any criminal prosecution against him.”
Soon thereafter, with Congress under his control, the new president’s third official act is to replace any of the 93 United States Attorneys who were not his loyal supporters. Similarly, he appoints (another “core constitutional power”) loyal followers to the US federal courts (including the Supreme Court) to replace those who have been removed by impeachment or coercion (“making then an offer they can’t refuse”). This is possible because, as we have been warned, his “use of any official power for any purpose, even the most corrupt, is immune from prosecution.” This ensures that all federal law enforcement is under his control, if there was any remaining doubt at that point.)
After a slumbering America wakes up to the reality of the arrests and assassinations, about a third of its population are just fine with the new president’s official acts and about two thirds are very angry. The angry Americans take to the streets in protest and are beaten mercilessly by newly-formed, armed militias (called Orange Shirts), some of which are manned and/or led by duped military veterans.
The new president is finally motivated to improve his public speaking skills, thereby increasing the number of his supporters that can stand to listen to his mumbling, disorganized speeches about whatever crazy thing pops into his mind. At this point, he is referred to as Leader because he and his very own “Deep State” loyalists control all three branches of the Federal government. As a reminder to citizens, the Pledge of Allegiance is changed to begin: “I pledge allegiance to the Leader of the United States of America. . . .”
The new president officially invokes martial law, and curfews are enforced by US military personnel under his official orders as commander and chief (another “core constitutional power”). Leaders of the resistance to the self-coup are interrogated using the same techniques that were “legally” used in Abu Ghraib in an attempt to destroy the leadership of any opposition groups. If any leaders die during interrogation, so be it.
A cowed Congress funds re-education camps to house deported political prisoners (opposition party leaders) and other undesirables, such as reporters who are “enemies of the people,” immigrants (legal or not, but by that time any Palestinian immigrant will do), union leaders, gay men, trans women, Muslims, people who are drug-addicted, “loser” disabled veterans, or homeless people (who the Supreme Court recently ruled can be “removed”). Those transported to the camps are forced into perform hard labor using brutal punishment and starvation.
A novel respiratory virus shows up at the camps and, and after a period of avoiding dealing with it until it is too late, hundreds of thousands of American citizens die as a result. The Leader’s incompetent and pre-pardoned doctors conduct experiments to determine whether shining a bright light on or injecting bleach into the undesirables or forcing them to take quack drugs would do the trick.
Eventually, maybe years from now, the Leader’s team begins to notice that he is lazy, selfish, and not very smart, and efforts are taken to eliminate him. These efforts fail until they don’t, when our “absolutely-immune-from-prosecution” Leader is sent packing. They’ll figure it out. (We all remember that once upon a time in Amertica a single brave citizen triggered the downfall of a previous tyrant by publicly asking him the question “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?“)
From the ashes of the American republic, leaders arise who are loyal to the US Constitution and the cycle re-enters a phase of traditional normalcy, until election of a want-to-be tyrant happens here again (Remember It Can’t Happen Here) when the voting public lowers its guard.
War Game 2024 Documentary
In 2023, Vet Voice Foundation convened a bipartisan group of U.S. defense, intelligence, and elected policymakers spanning five presidential administrations to participate in an unscripted role-play exercise in which they confronted a political coup backed by rogue members of the U.S. military, in the wake of a contested presidential election.
In War Game, the filmmakers seize a unique opportunity to bring audiences tableside to a simulation that dramatically escalates the threat posed by January 6, 2021. With the grip of a thriller, War Game posits active-duty military breaking ranks to join an insurrection that soon spreads to other state capitals, yielding a chilling moment when it’s unclear whether the president fully commands the armed forces. The simulation’s outcome hinges on several inflection points, from the government’s capacity to counter the disinformation that’s effectively spread by the insurgent side to the potential invocation of the Insurrection Act (i.e., the last resort). While the exercise served to stress test our institutions, the film is a critical wake-up call, underscoring the urgent need for bipartisanship in safeguarding American democracy.