NEW YORK — Election results are contested. Far-right extremists groups are plotting to overthrow the electoral college vote count. Protesters gather in Washington. TV news screens blare: “Capitol in Chaos.”
In the White House Situation Room, the president gathers with advisors to consider their next moves. Only this is not January 6th, 2021, but a simulation of an insurrection very much like it.
In January last year, a group of former generals, senators, governors and civil servants gathered in a Washington D.C. hotel to run an exercise, a war game, to experience the United States on the brink of civil war in January 2025, and, maybe, to find a few ways to avoid a widely shared American nightmare.
This image released by Submarine Deluxe shows Lou Caldera, from third left, Wes Clark, and Steve Bullock, in a scene from “War Game.” (Submarine Deluxe via AP)
