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A Local Veteran Discusses Lessons Learned From War-Gaming a Second Trump Presidency
https://www.sevendaysvt.com/news/a-local-veteran-discusses-lessons-learned-from-war-gaming-a-second-trump-presidency-40893056A Local Veteran Discusses Lessons Learned From War-Gaming a Second Trump Presidency
By KEN PICARD
Published May 15, 2024 at 10:00 a.m.
llustrator David Junkin used photos from real events to depict scenes from a hypothetical Trump presidency, as might be envisioned in the Constitutional Thresholds game.
It's January 20, 2025, and Donald Trump is being sworn in for a second presidential term. In the weeks leading up to the inauguration, his rhetoric on border security has become increasingly inflammatory. Addressing a large rally, he has vowed to issue an executive order on his first day in office to "take back control of our border and use our powerful military and brave patriots to do the job that Biden failed to do." In response, far-right extremist groups such as the Proud Boys and Three Percenters have deployed to the border in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
[...]
This fictional — yet plausible — scenario was the starting point for Constitutional Thresholds, billed as an "interactive and immersive tabletop exercise and war game" and held on February 13 in Palo Alto, Calif., and Washington, D.C. The first of several war games planned for the coming months, it was organized by Veterans for Responsible Leadership, a political action committee founded and led by Dan Barkhuff of South Burlington.
Imagine a role-playing game with players who have served at the highest levels of government, politics and the U.S. military — all of them plotting their moves in dead earnest. Their mission? To explore the possibility that the next president will have little to no regard for the U.S. Constitution or the rule of law. Given that Trump's lawyers recently argued before the Supreme Court that he enjoys absolute "presidential immunity" for the "official acts" he undertook during the January 6, 2021, insurrection, this game seems all too real.
A retired U.S. Navy SEAL who served multiple combat tours in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa, Barkhuff, 45, is now an emergency department physician at the University of Vermont Medical Center. He's also an outspoken Trump critic. In 2020, he recorded a one-minute ad for the anti-Trump PAC the Lincoln Project, in which he called Trump "a coward" for failing to stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin; in its first 24 hours, the ad was viewed more than 6 million times.
[...]
By KEN PICARD
Published May 15, 2024 at 10:00 a.m.
llustrator David Junkin used photos from real events to depict scenes from a hypothetical Trump presidency, as might be envisioned in the Constitutional Thresholds game.
It's January 20, 2025, and Donald Trump is being sworn in for a second presidential term. In the weeks leading up to the inauguration, his rhetoric on border security has become increasingly inflammatory. Addressing a large rally, he has vowed to issue an executive order on his first day in office to "take back control of our border and use our powerful military and brave patriots to do the job that Biden failed to do." In response, far-right extremist groups such as the Proud Boys and Three Percenters have deployed to the border in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
[...]
This fictional — yet plausible — scenario was the starting point for Constitutional Thresholds, billed as an "interactive and immersive tabletop exercise and war game" and held on February 13 in Palo Alto, Calif., and Washington, D.C. The first of several war games planned for the coming months, it was organized by Veterans for Responsible Leadership, a political action committee founded and led by Dan Barkhuff of South Burlington.
Imagine a role-playing game with players who have served at the highest levels of government, politics and the U.S. military — all of them plotting their moves in dead earnest. Their mission? To explore the possibility that the next president will have little to no regard for the U.S. Constitution or the rule of law. Given that Trump's lawyers recently argued before the Supreme Court that he enjoys absolute "presidential immunity" for the "official acts" he undertook during the January 6, 2021, insurrection, this game seems all too real.
A retired U.S. Navy SEAL who served multiple combat tours in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa, Barkhuff, 45, is now an emergency department physician at the University of Vermont Medical Center. He's also an outspoken Trump critic. In 2020, he recorded a one-minute ad for the anti-Trump PAC the Lincoln Project, in which he called Trump "a coward" for failing to stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin; in its first 24 hours, the ad was viewed more than 6 million times.
[...]