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[NOTE: I think this story should be taken seriously.  The fact that seemingly everyone associated with the Political Establishment (including people in the media) are lately being so consistently dishonest and disingenuous is very disturbing.  No matter what their motivations actually are, it can’t be a good thing.]

Over 100 high ranking U.S. government officials have formulated “contingency plans” in case Trump “undermines” the 2020 election by (correctly) questioning the legitimacy of the voting

 by Edward Ulrich, updated November 23, 2020

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The “Transition Integrity Project (TIP)” strategizes with “war games exercises” to deal with alleged potential scenarios of Donald Trump “stealing the election.”


Much of the same group of high ranking U.S. government officials and Establishment journalists who fabricated the “Russian Collusion hoax” in a coup attempt to impeach Donald Trump have now created a publicly downloadable PDF of “contingency plans” with “four scenario exercises” in case Donald Trump tries to allegedly “steal the 2020 Presidential election”— however what they are claiming is “stealing the election” is actually Trump pointing out genuine issues with the legitimacy of the election process.

Despite touting themselves as being “a bipartisan group” of over “100 current and former senior government and campaign leaders and other experts,” the twenty-two page PDF document detailing their “Transition Integrity Project (TIP)” shows them to be ridiculously biased, even stating in its introduction that the group was “launched in late 2019 out of concern that the Trump Administration may seek to manipulate, ignore, undermine or disrupt the 2020 presidential election and transition process.”

The TIP document envisions four different “war games scenarios” that mostly present the potential of a legitimate Trump victory as being essentially impossible, however one of the scenarios does consider Trump winning the Electoral College, but not winning the popular vote.  But even in that scenario where Trump “wins,” their “contingency plans” envision the country being plunged into chaos as a result due to the states on the West coast threatening to succeed from the Union unless a list of demands are met to “fix our Democratic system,” such as by giving statehood to Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, and abolishing the Electoral College system.

Their assumptions are apparently partially based on the excuse that Joe Biden has been ahead in polls, however such polls cannot be trusted for many reasons, as the previous presidential election has demonstrated.  For example, Hillary Clinton was ahead by 14 points twelve days before the 2016 election.  Also the Establishment media outlets that often perform such polls consistently show themselves to be corrupt through the news reports that they disseminate, so obviously they are also going to bias their polling results as well.

[Note: November 23, 2020— I initially became aware of the TIP report in this article on Kevin Freeman’s “Global Economic Warfare” website.]


Article Notes
new: November 20, 2020 - Added information about current Dominion voting machines still being as hackable as the previous Diebold machines.

November 11, 2020 - Added additional information about election fraud that is occurring.










Who is involved with the “Transition Integrity Project?”

The Transition Integrity Project (TIP) consists of many members of the Establishment “deep state” such as John Podesta, Bill Kristol, and Max Boot, with many (if not all of them) being members of the secretive “Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).”

The project is funded by Establishment figures such as George Soros who is responsible for secretively funding many deceptive leftist agendas such as “Black Lives Matter.”


Nils Gilman

A primary co-founder of TIP is Nils Gilman, who is also the vice president of programs at the Chinese Communist Party-linked “Berggruen Institute,” that aims to thwart “the anti-globalization backlash that brought nationalist and populist movements to power in major countries.”  Gilman has OPENLY CALLED FOR THE EXECUTION of the former Trump national security official Michael Anton due to Anton’s coverage of and criticism of TIP.

Other members of TIP are also high ranking members of the Berggruen Institute, and some are additionally 2020 PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE COMMISSION MEMBERS, such as Antonia Hernandez, Ronnie Chan, and Fred Hu.  (That shouldn’t be a suprise to anyone who has watched the debates, for example Kamala Harris and Mike Pence were ridiculously asked “What they would do if Trump refuses a peaceful transfer of power”!)

Rosa Brooks

Another primary co-founder of TIP is Rosa Brooks, who has written many op-eds touting the TIP report.  She is a Senior fellow at New America, which is a think tank funded by George Soros as well as Bill and Melinda Gates, and she has served as a senior advisor at the State Department during both the Obama and Clinton administrations.

Ten days after Trump’s inauguration in 2016, she wrote an article in the CFR’s official publication “Foreign Policy Magazine” advocating for Trump’s swift removal from office, even suggesting a MILITARY COUP to do so.


This New American article explains the following: “[R]epublicans who are included in TIP are of the #NeverTrump variety, such as columnist Mona Charen, who was famously booed off the CPAC stage for attacking Trump.  There’s also Evan McMullin, the failed third-party candidate who ran as an anti-Trump conservative in 2016, as well as Anne Applebaum, who has decried the Republican Party’s pro-Trump shift.”


TIP is additionally financed by Obama lawyers who are associated with Hunter Biden, such as Ian Bassin

A National Pulse article explains the following:  [Note I have capitalized text for emphasis.]

The critical connection comes through President Obama’s former associate White House Counsel, Ian Bassin, who heads the anti-Trump litigation efforts Protect Democracy Project and United to Protect Democracy.

Bassin previously headed the far-left Avaaz network, founded in turn by the leftist MoveOn.org group, as well as the Truman National Security Project, which has featured lead Joe Biden policy advisor Jake Sullivan and JOE BIDEN’S SON HUNTER BIDEN on its board.











Introductory Information in the TIP Document


The TIP document says:

Participants include members of both major political parties, former high-ranking government officials (including, for example, two former governors), senior political campaigners, nationally prominent journalists and communications professionals, social movement leaders, and experts on politics, national security, democratic reform, election law, and media.


In its introduction, the document states:

[T]he administration of President Donald Trump has steadily undermined core norms of democracy and the rule of law and embraced numerous corrupt and authoritarian practices.  This presents a profound challenge for those - from either party - who are committed to ensuring free and fair elections, peaceful transitions of power, and stable administrative continuity in the United States.


... But how has Trump “steadily undermined core norms of democracy and the rule of law and embraced numerous corrupt and authoritarian practices”?  He really hasn’t done that compared to other Presidents— especially when compared to the Neocon presidents who the authors of the report are closely affiliated with!


The document says in its “Executive Summary” on page 1:  [I have capitalized text for emphasis.]

We ... assess that President Trump is likely to contest the result by both legal and extra-legal means, in an attempt to hold onto power.  Recent events, including the President’s own unwillingness to commit to abiding by the results of the election, the Attorney General’s embrace of the PRESIDENT’S GROUNDLESS ELECTORAL FRAUD CLAIMS and the unprecedented deployment of federal agents to put down leftwing protests, underscore the extreme lengths to which President Trump may be willing to go in order to stay in office.


... There is nothing “groundless” about Trump’s electoral fraud claims at all, as the following section shows.  However, the entire Establishment media has been parroting a corrupt talking point claiming that it is ridiculous to think that such vote fraud could exist.











Election fraud in the U.S. is rampant, despite claims to the contrary by the political Establishment


Issues with Fraudulent Voter Registrations

In all of the scenarios that are envisioned in the TIP report, including the scenario where Trump wins, they assume that Joe Biden has won the popular vote.

Hillary’s popular vote victory in 2016 came about being due to the votes from states with corrupt electoral practices such as California, New York, and Illinois, where the fraud that took place was not adequately publicized due to Trump winning the Electoral College vote anyway.

For example, the Judicial Watch organization uncovered millions of extra registrants on the voting rolls in states such as California, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina.  The Judicial Watch report explains that despite the fact that San Diego, CA removed 500,000 inactive names from its voter rolls following Judicial Watch’s settlement with Los Angeles County, there are STILL voter registrations of 117%, meaning that there are substantially more registrations than there are people living in that area who are old enough to vote; and their report also says that there are 378 other counties in the U.S. with registrations beyond the 100% eligible citizens mark, being 2.5 million additional registrations in total— all in Democrat controlled states.  The average registration rate in the U.S. is actually only about 65%.

[Note: November 23, 2020— I found the preceeding information in this section in this article that explains the TIP report on Kevin Freeman’s “Global Economic Warfare” website.]




Issues With Voting Machines

Shockingly, even most in-person electronic voting machines are able to be compromised, including ones that only scan paper ballots!


Running Time: 8 minutes


With Diebold voting machines, every vote is stored on a memory card along with additional computer code.  This video clip from the HBO special “Hacking Democracy” shows how an election can be altered through a person only having access to a memory card.  The video shows how the hack works even with Diebold machines that only tabulate paper ballots, and how it is impossible to detect the fraud once it has happened.

NOTE: November 20, 2020— The fraudulent machines demonstrated in this video are essentially the same type that were used by many states in the 2020 Presidential Election!  The Diebold company was acquired by Dominion in 2010, and Dominion’s machines are still very easily able to be hacked into.  For examples of that, see this article that contains a 2018 New York Times video that demonstrates a Dominon machine being hacked, and see this 2018 Symantec video showing the large amount of venerabilities that are still in the most recent types of voting machines.




Issues With Mail-In Ballots

The Establishment media has been constantly claiming that the potential for fraud happening with mail-in voting is impossible, however there is actually much evidence of fraud happening with it.  Remember that the “Transision Integrity Project” has been created to deal with the potential of Trump allegedly being a “power-hungry authoritarian” who wants to “steal the election,” but they are making those accusations simply because he has been pointing out the obvious issues with the mail-in voting!

See the following links for recent news stories about about issues with the mail-in voting:

[Note: November 11, 2020— The organization Project Vertias had reported about allegations of the congresswoman Ilhan Omar being involved in a “cash-for-votes scheme,” but apparently it turns out that the proof of that is in question due to many of the sources being anonymous, so I have taken the links off that mention that.  However, there are plenty of other examples of vote fraud and issues with the mail-in ballots.  I have added three new articles today, they are the following ones in a bold font.]


Massive Vote Fraud Across U.S. as Trump Decries Attempted Coup  (The New American) — “Reports, videos, and other evidence of rampant and brazen voter fraud from all across the country — especially in jurisdictions controlled by Democrats — continue pouring in faster than the Big Tech giants can censor it and the fake ‘fact-checking’ industry can dishonestly attempt to discredit it. ...”

Democrat voter fraud in Pennsylvania is explained as states flip for Trump  (Infowars) — “Owen Shroyder is live at the State Capitol Building in Tallahassee, Florida as the Stop The Steal Caravan continues its journey to DC as more Democrat fraud is uncovered in Pennsylvania.”

The Pennsylvania Secretary of State overseeing the voting said Trump was ‘dangerously unfit’ for office, and ‘demeaning’ to the presidency  (The National Pulse) — “Boockvar, who previously served as senior election modernization adviser to the critical swing state’s Governor, now heads Pennsylvania’s Department of State. The department is ‘responsible for monitoring all aspects of an election, from ballot access to voting provisions’ - of paramount importance in light of Pennsylvania’s integral and contested status as of November 4th. ... Boockvar, however, can hardly be seen as a neutral arbiter.”


Confessions of a voter fraud: I was a master at fixing mail-in ballots

Trump may win election night, but Joe Biden will win days later due to mail-in votes, according to a Bloomberg-funded group

A Michigan judge extended the deadline two weeks for mail-in ballots postmarked by November 2

Hulk Hogan claims his friend received a mail-in ballot for his dog

A surveillance camera has captured a ‘huge pile of mail’ dumped in California parking lots




Also see the following information talking about the necessity of FEDERALIZING VOTING STANDARDS (but NOT federalizing “elections.”)


Federalizing VOTING STANDARDS is not the same as “federalizing elections,” and implementing such standards is crucial and should not be feared
updated September 15, 2022
Recently I saw a Breitbart article entitled “Iowa Is Why We Must Never Federalize Our Elections,” which essentially claims that federalization of elections would result in enabling the global elite to implement their fraudulent voting machines and practices in every precinct in every U.S. state, however the article does not consider the option of adding an amendment to the U.S. Constitution (which is a “federal” approach) that would outlaw the use of all types of electronic voting counting (including the electronic counting of paper ballots), and ensure that only one foolproof standard for manually casting and counting votes is used everywhere.











Issues with News Reports About the Transition Integrity Project


The mainstream media has been occasionally reporting about the Transition Integrity Project, and the project also has a Wikipedia page as well.  Reports by Fox News are sounding an alarm about it, but typical pro-Establishment outlets (see here, and here) are presenting it as if it is some sort of an important organization to be supportive of.

Its Wikipedia page actually even claims that opposition to it is a “baseless far-right conspiracy theory” that is “stoking calls for violence among online right-wing extremists.”  It says that concerns about the report are also being called “fabrications” and “misinformation” by NPR and the New York Times (see this link, and this link.)  The page also mentions an ADL analysis that makes a ridiculous claim that there is “no credible threats of violence from Democrats or liberals in general” if the left would lose the election instead.




This CNN broadcast interviews Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, who explains his involvement with the Transition Integrity Project, where he says that the group has gained the following “obvious insights” from their simulated situations:  “The person who owns the government [(as Wilkerson alleges that Trump does)], owns the power.  ...  Especially if you have someone who is unscrupulous, dishonest frankly, and willing to go beyond the law to do whatever he needs to do to stay in power.  And that’s a problem, that’s a real challenge.”









Video of Hillary Clinton Saying Biden Shouldn’t Concede Under Any Circumstances



Despite the political Establishment fear-mongering about Trump potentially causing mayhem with the election by refusing to concede, they are actually advocating for doing exactly that themselves.

In this video, Hillary Clinton claims that Trump supporters are going to “intimidate” people at polling locations, and she says “Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstances because I think this is going to drag out and eventually I do believe he will win if we don’t give an inch.”










A Summary of Additional Introductory Information in the TIP Document


Following are some of the RIDICULOUS CONCERNS that the authors of the report are claiming that they have about Trump (but in fact it is mostly a description of what they might do themselves):  [I have capitalized text for emphasis.]

— There will be a “period of uncertainty” due to mail-in voting; therefore it will provide an “unscrupulous candidate” to set up an “unprecedented assault” on the outcome of the election.

— “A ‘determined campaign’ has the opportunity to contest the election into January 2021, where they ‘anticipate lawsuits, divergent media narratives, attempts to stop the counting of ballots, and protests drawing people from both sides.’”

— “President Trump, the incumbent, will very likely use the executive branch to aid his campaign strategy, including through the Department of Justice.  We assess that there is a chance the president will attempt to convince legislatures and/or governors to take actions - including ILLEGAL ACTIONS - to defy the popular vote.  ...  Of particular concern is how the military would respond in the context of uncertain election results.”

— “The administrative transition process itself may be highly disrupted.  PARTICIPANTS IN OUR EXERCISES OF ALL BACKGROUNDS AND IDEOLOGIES BELIEVED THAT TRUMP WOULD PRIORITIZE PERSONAL GAIN AND SELF-PROTECTION OVER ENSURING AN ORDERLY ADMINISTRATIVE HANDOFF TO HIS SUCCESSOR.  Trump may use pardons to thwart future criminal prosecution, arrange business deals with foreign governments that benefit him financially, attempt to bribe and silence associates, declassify sensitive documents, and attempt to divert federal funds to his own businesses.”



Following is a summary of “RECOMMENDATIONS” of the authors of the report about how to deal with Trump’s alleged potential subversion.  [Note that they lie about the essentially guaranteed potential of vote fraud against Trump, and they say that violence will likely happen, however they they say that that the violence will happen because of TRUMP SUPPORTERS being encouraged by him to do so.]

— The report says to be prepared in advance with plans for a contested election, approaching it as a “political battle” rather than just a “legal battle.”  It says, “[S]ustained political mobilization will likely be crucial for ensuring transition integrity.  Dedicated staff and resources need to be in place at least through the end of January.”

— “Focus on readiness in the states, providing political support for a complete and accurate count.  Governors, Secretaries of State, Attorneys General and Legislatures can communicate and reinforce laws and norms and be ready to confront irregularities.  ...”

— “ADDRESS THE TWO BIGGEST THREATS HEAD ON: LIES ABOUT ‘VOTER FRAUD’ AND ESCALATING VIOLENCE.  VOTING FRAUD IS VIRTUALLY NON-EXISTENT, BUT TRUMP LIES ABOUT IT to create a narrative designed to politically mobilize his base and to create the basis for contesting the results should he lose.  THE POTENTIAL FOR VIOLENT CONFLICT IS HIGH, PARTICULARLY SINCE TRUMP ENCOURAGES HIS SUPPORTERS TO TAKE UP ARMS.”

— “Anticipate a rocky administrative transition.  Transition teams will likely need to do two things simultaneously: defend against Trump’s reckless actions on his way out of office; and find creative solutions to ensure landing teams are able to access the information and resources they need to begin to prepare for governing.”



— “... Like many authoritarian leaders, President Trump has begun to lay the groundwork for potentially ignoring or disrupting the voting process, by claiming, for instance, that any mail-in ballots will be fraudulent and that his opponents will seek to have non-citizens vote through fraud.”  [NOTE: People who are attempting to make claims of Trump being an “authoritarian” would be a laughing stock if Trump simply didn’t communicate in the needlessly divisive manner that he often does.  It is unfortunate that he does that, and it is unfortunate that his supporters don’t call him out for that more often.  But despite his annoying rhetoric, Trump’s policies are often opposed to the corrupt political Establishment, and he is not an “authoritarian.”]

— “Sixty-seven people participated as active ‘players’ in one or more of the scenario exercises, while dozens more participated in the exercises as observers and offered feedback during debriefing sessions.”

— “Each simulation exercise involved seven teams, each composed of 2-3 people.  The teams were constructed to allow players considerable flexibility to adopt different identities at different points in the game.  Using a ‘matrix game’ format, the teams were:  (1) The Trump Campaign [‘Team Trump’];  (2) The Biden Campaign [‘Team Biden’];  (3) Republican Elected Officials;  (4) Democratic Elected Officials;  (5) Career Federal Government employees (civilian and military) and political appointees;  (6) Media (right wing, left wing and mainstream); and  (7) the Public (this team consisted of polling experts).”

— “The scenario planning exercises were conducted in June 2020.  Developments since then have only confirmed that there is every reason to be concerned that our electoral rules and norms are under threat.  In an interview with Chris Wallace, President Trump suggested that he might not abide by the results of the election if he loses.  The President deployed agents from Homeland Security to Portland to suppress racial justice protestors.  ...”  [NOTE: The “racial justice protesters” were actually violent leftist Antifa and “Black Lives Matter” groups that are covertly controlled by the Establishment.]  “... [which] indicates President Trump’s appetite to deploy federal agents even against the will of local elected officials.  ...”

(A description of the strategies of both the “Trump” and “Biden” teams are then described, where the Trump team strategies portrait Trump as an out of control tyrant while the Biden team strategies usually show Biden to be essentially an innocent victim.)

— “TIP’s scenario exercises underscored a basic truth: an incumbent running for re-election can use the powers of the presidency to great advantage, particularly if traditional norms are viewed as unimportant and the incumbent is willing to take the risk that a court will eventually rule his actions to be unlawful.  The exercise identified the following presidential powers as most likely to be misused to manipulate electoral outcomes or disrupt the transition: the President’s ability to federalize the national guard or invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy active duty military domestically; his ability to launch investigations into opponents; and his ability to use Department of Justice and/or the intelligence agencies to cast doubt on election results or discredit his opponents.”

—  “A show of numbers in the streets- and actions in the streets- may be decisive factors in determining what the public perceives as a just and legitimate outcome.”

— “During TIP’s exercises, Team Biden almost always called for and relied on mass protests to demonstrate the public’s commitment to a ‘legitimate’ outcome, with the objective of hardening the resolve of Democratic elected officials to fight and take action, and to dramatize the stakes.  As a practical matter, however, participants in the exercise noted that racial justice activists and others will likely act independently of the Biden campaign - players repeatedly cautioned that THESE SOCIAL MOVEMENTS ARE INDEPENDENT, NOT BEHOLDEN TO, OR A TOOL OF, THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.”  [NOTE: That is absolutely a dishonest statement!  Such violent groups are entirely a creation of the political Establishment for the Democrats.  See this link, this link, and this link.]  It then continues, “... If anything, the scale of recent demonstrations has increased the stakes for the Democratic Party to build strong ties with grassroots organizations and be responsive to the movement’s demands.”


“Trump is likely to prioritize his personal interests in the transition period”

— “Take the money and run.  Participants in the scenario exercises universally believed that self-preservation for President Trump and his family will be Trump’s first and possibly only priority if he is forced to concede electoral defeat.  Before he leaves office he might maximize the flow of federal money into Trump businesses (moves played: direct COVID-19 relief package for Trump hotels; relocate to Mar-a-Lago for the final months of his presidency); negotiate business deals with foreign countries; and purge documents that might incriminate foreign governments and business partners (for example, documents related to Jamal Khashoggi’s murder).  President Trump could also launch his next business venture from the White House (speculations include ‘MAGA TV,’ possibly headed by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner).”

— Other activities the report said Trump would engage in if he lost the election would include “Pardon everyone,” “Wag the Dog/spark a foreign adventure,” “Destroy evidence,” and “Disrupt the transition process.”










Summaries of the Four “War Game Scenarios” in the TIP Document



The four “war game election scenarios” that are envisioned are: 1. An “Ambiguous Result,” 2. A “Clear Biden Victory,” 3. “A Clear Trump Win,” and 4. A “Narrow Biden Win.”

Three of the four scenarios envisioned Biden winning, and in the one where Trump won they envisioned the country being plunged into chaos as a result.  Following are summaries of their findings in each of the scenarios.


A Summary of “Game One: Ambiguous Result”

The first game envisioned a scenario where the outcome of the election remained “unclear,” starting on election night.  Following are aspects of their described situation:

— Trump called on Biden to concede on election night since the in-person votes were in his favor, and he prepared the National Guard for possible deployment to maintain order against potential “protests.”

— On election night, Biden declared that his victory was imminent and he called for every vote to be counted, and he called for “peaceful rallies.”

— “The Trump Campaign team again attempted to federalize the National Guard to end further vote counting and called on supporters to turn out in large numbers.  The Biden Campaign established a bipartisan transition team and mobilized supporters to ensure vote counting was completed thoroughly.”

— “As the scenario played out, North Carolina went to Biden and Florida to Trump, leaving Michigan as the deciding state.  There, a rogue individual destroyed a large number of ballots believed to have supported Biden, leaving Trump a narrow electoral win.  The Governor of Michigan used this abnormality as justification to send a separate, pro-Biden set of electors to DC.”

— “The outcome of the scenario hinged on how the elected officials from the two parties addressed the separate slate of electors from Michigan.  GOP officials asserted that as the President of the Senate, Vice President Pence could legally choose to accept or reject electors as he wished.  There was no clear resolution of the conflict in the January 6 joint session of Congress; the partisans on both sides were still claiming victory, leading to the problem of two claims to Commander-in-Chief power (including access to the nuclear codes) at noon on January 20.”




A Summary of “Game Two: Clear Biden Victory”


The second game envisioned a scenario where Biden won outright in the Electoral College and the popular vote.  In it, Trump initially contested the outcome of the election, but once it became clear to him that such efforts to overturn the vote would fail, his strategy shifted to one of “self-preservation.”  Following are the quotes from the section:

— “The Trump Campaign initially alleged massive fraud and called for joint DNI-DOJ investigations into the election results.  These allegations were reinforced by GOP elected officials.  Both the Trump Campaign and GOP team called on media to cast doubt on the outcomes.  (Unlike in other scenarios, they never attempted to get state legislatures to repudiate the certified popular vote in the states, or to thwart the state-law processes for counting ballots.)”

— “The Trump Campaign maximized federal funding for Trump businesses by temporarily relocating the President and his staff to Mar-A-Lago and pursuing murky overseas business deals.”

— [The] GOP-controlled Senate pushed through outstanding judicial nominations.

— “The Trump Campaign sought to shield President Trump and his team from any future criminal jeopardy by preparing pardons for all individuals connected to the administration - regardless of admitted or perceived guilt.”

— “The Biden Campaign team emphasized standing up a credible transition process.  The Trump Campaign sought to hinder this, but the Federal Government Team confirmed that a number of civil servants would seek to enable it regardless of directions from the White House.”

— The Biden Campaign successfully secured the election result and also worked to forge coalitions with elected GOP officials - which the dice rolls granted to a limited extent - while taking public steps to ‘heal the country’ through public rallies and addresses.

— “The Trump team issued pardons for Trump family members, political allies, and cabinet officials, along with prominent Democrats, including Hunter Biden and Hillary Clinton, for unspecified crimes.”

— “The Trump Campaign took steps to position either Donald Trump or his son Donald Trump Jr. to run for reelection in 2024.  The Trump Campaign announced the new ‘MAGA TV’ station, featuring documentary footage from Trump’s final weeks in office.”

— “The Trump Campaign team also sought to install close allies in positions of influence in the RNC and to distract public attention from the President’s efforts at self-preservation and continued influence in the party by escalating rhetoric with Iran.”

— “The Biden Campaign remained focused on the transition and laying the groundwork for governing.  The Democratic Elected Representatives team supported the Biden effort, but also began the process of preparing for investigation into Trump, his family, and his associates.”

— GOP elected officials re-focused on state responses to COVID-19, while the Federal Government saw a mass exodus of Trump aligned political appointees.




A Summary of “Game Three: Clear Trump Win”

In the third scenario, Trump won the Electoral College vote but he didn’t win the popular vote, causing a “constitutional crisis,” civil unrest, threats of succession, and “the potential for either a decline into authoritarianism or a radically revamped set of democratic rules that ensure the popular will prevails (abolishment of the Electoral College, making DC and Puerto Rico states, and other changes).”  [Notice that according to the supposedly a “non-partisan group,” even if Trump LEGITIMATELY WINS, they are envisioning it as if it would be some sort of an ultimate catastrophe.]

Following are quotes from the section:  (I have capitalized text for emphasis)

— “The Trump Campaign had two main objectives at the outset of the scenario.  The first priority was to legitimize the Electoral College results by pushing narratives that cast doubt on former Vice President Biden’s popular vote victory and portraying wide-spread protests of President Trump as anti-American, undemocratic, and promoting mob rule.  THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN PLANTED AGENT PROVOCATEURS INTO THE PROTESTS throughout the country to ensure these protests turned violent and helped further the narrative of a violent insurrection against a lawfully elected president.”

— “The second Trump Campaign priority was to consolidate power to reduce or eliminate the ‘Deep State’ and broader institutional resistance to President Trump’s agenda for his second term.  Specific measures included selective promotions of military personnel with ‘pro-American views’, rushing judicial nominations, increasing financial incentives to big business, and working with states to maximize GOP control through redistricting.”

— “The GOP Elected Officials team was supportive of Trump’s efforts to crack down on protests  Establishing ‘law and order’ and defeating the ‘anarchists' was a unifying call.  But they pressed President Trump to ‘slow down' on the campaign’s more aggressive and overt efforts to consolidate power, partly out of concern that they would lose the support of moderate Democrats needed to publicly declare Trump’s victory legitimate.”

— “The most consequential action of the first turn was the Biden Campaign’s retraction of its election night concession.  It capitalized on the public’s outrage that for the third time in 20 years a candidate lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College.  They also capitalized on concern about widespread voter suppression before and on Election Day.  The Biden Campaign began the game by encouraging three states with Democratic governors—North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Michigan—to ask for recounts.  As the game developed, governors in two of the three (Wisconsin and Michigan) sent separate slates of electors to counter those sent by the state legislature.”  [NOTE: The Electoral College is the appropriately Constitutional way that elections are determined.  It doesn’t matter that another candidate technically got “more votes” in that scenario.  The Electoral College system was designed to ensure that densely populated urban areas don’t always decide who runs the entire country.]

— “The GOP failed to convince moderate Democrats in the House to break ranks with the Democratic resistance and support Trump’s electoral victory, much to the GOP’s surprise.  Part of the strategy here was to attack the Electoral College and to claim that the certified popular votes in these states were questionable because of voter suppression.”

— “At the end of the first turn, the country was in the midst of a full-blown constitutional crisis characterized by:  1) Political chaos;  2) Widespread threats of violence;  [3) Sporadic actual violence in the streets;] and  4) A hostile, dangerous, highly-partisan, and frequently unconstrained information and media environment.”

— “The Biden Campaign encouraged Western states, particularly California but also Oregon and Washington, and collectively known as ‘Cascadia,’ to secede from the Union unless Congressional Republicans agreed to a set of structural reforms to fix our democratic system to ensure majority rule.  With advice from President Obama, the Biden Campaign submitted a proposal to 1) Give statehood to Washington, DC and Puerto Rico;  2) Divide California into five states to more accurately represent its population in the Senate;  3) Require Supreme Court justices to retire at 70; and  4) Eliminate the Electoral College, to ensure that the candidate who wins to the popular vote becomes President.”  [NOTE: Oh, right, that makes sense!  ... Trump fairly wins the election, and since a Democrat didn't win, the West coast states will secede from the Union.  I don’t think those states are that corrupt yet, but they will be in the near future if an awakening doesn’t happen before then.]

— “As the scenario evolved, the Trump Team focused its efforts on driving a wedge into the disparate and, in the view of many participants, fragile Democratic coalition.  For example, during the second turn, Trump gave an interview to The Intercept in which he stated that he would have lost the election if Bernie Sanders had been nominated.”

— “The Trump Team’s approach in turns two and three also emphasized creating the conditions to force the Biden Campaign into taking provocative, unprecedented actions—such as supporting California’s secession or sending a second slate of electors—that played into a broader narrative of the Democrats attempting to orchestrate an illegal coup.  The team also tried to position President Trump as a ‘unifier’—working with top CEOs, holding a unifying event at the Lincoln Memorial, offering to establish a commission to review electoral rules—and as prioritizing safety and security in the face of radical groups supporting Joe Biden and trying to destroy America.”

— “One of the most consequential moves was that Team Biden on January 6 provoked a breakdown in the joint session of Congress by getting the House of Representatives to agree to award the presidency to Biden (based on the alternative pro-Biden submissions sent by pro-Biden governors).  Pence and the GOP refused to accept this, declaring instead that Trump was reelected under the Constitution because of his Electoral College victory.  This partisan division remained unresolved because neither side backed down, and January 20 arrived without a single president- elect entitled to be Commander-in-Chief after noon that day.  It was unclear what the military would do in this situation.”





A Summary of “Game Four: Narrow Biden Win”

The final scenario explored a narrow Biden win where he leads with less than 1% of the popular vote the day after the election, and is predicted to win 278 electoral votes.  Fox News is among the major networks that called the election for Biden, though the Trump campaign does not concede, setting up an intense competition that concludes with an uneasy and combative but ultimately successful transition.”

Following are quotes from this section:  (I have capitalized text for emphasis)

— “The Trump Campaign began the game by encouraging the state legislatures in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan to certify a separate slate of electors in support of President Trump.  Despite opposition from the Biden Campaign and Democrats, both Michigan’s and Pennsylvania’s legislatures agree to send two sets of electors in support of Trump.”

— “The Trump Campaign engaged in a LARGE AND COORDINATED DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN primarily focused on the legitimacy of the mail-in ballots.  This campaign used the media to amplify “stolen election” and “voter fraud” narratives, and launched noisy DoJ investigation into voter fraud.  Attorney General Barr also took action to stop ballot counting.  TRUMP CAMPAIGN SURROGATES RELEASED FALSE INFORMATION THAT JOE BIDEN HAD SUFFERED A HEART-ATTACK in an attempt to undermine perceptions of Biden’s fitness to hold office.  The Biden Campaign quickly dispelled this information, but Facebook kept posts about the heart-attack up.”

— “Despite all of these moves during the first week after the election, dice rolls confirmed that the Biden Campaign maintained a narrow lead.”

— “The Trump Campaign understood that its most effective strategy was not just to create more doubt about the validity of votes for Biden, BUT ALSO TO SEW MORE CHAOS AND DISRUPTION SO THAT PRESIDENT TRUMP COULD POSITION HIMSELF AS THE ONLY ONE CAPABLE OF ENSURING LAW AND ORDER.  The Trump Campaign stoked chaos and mayhem by urging local police forces to break up Black Lives Matter and pro-Biden demonstrations and encouraging Alt Right / Boogaloo supporters to confront liberal protestors.”

— “The Biden Campaign framed Trump’s actions as ugly and divisive; engaging independents and moderate Republicans to speak out against this threat.  MITT ROMNEY tried to convince Republican senators to support the Biden victory.  After first failing, Romney prevailed and convinced three other GOP Senators to recognize Biden as the President-elect.”

— “As it became evident that the Biden victory would be certified, Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell privately signaled to several Republicans they could support Romney’s cross-the-aisle effort, recognizing that moderate Republicans are more likely to prevail in 2022.”

— “The Biden Campaign organized massive protests across the country.  A dice roll determined that over four million Americans took to the streets across the country in support of Biden, enabling his campaign to gain momentum in the battle for public opinion.  Violent skirmishes and vandalism took place during these demonstrations.”

— “A critical moment in the game play was the Joint Chiefs of Staff leaking that internal discussions had taken place about how to handle the escalating situation, including the consideration of resigning in protest of Trump’s continued efforts to sow unrest.  The leak indicated that the Joint Chiefs’ commitment was to the Constitution rather than to the President or to a particular party.  Once the Senate voted in agreement with the House on January 6, the military made it clear that it was ready to support Biden as the newly inaugurated president on January 20.”

— “Sensing the election slipping away, right-wing media pursued particularly aggressive and provocative strategies.  INFOWARS PUBLISHED A LIST OF ADDRESSES, PHONE NUMBERS, AND OTHER PERSONAL INFORMATION OF ELECTORS PLEDGED TO VOTE FOR JOE BIDEN.  The announcement included spurious claims linking 88 of these electors to Soros and 14 to child sex trafficking.  Rush Limbaugh and others accused the Biden campaign of accepting help from China, a message picked up by the mainstream media.  Right-wing meme pages, which have a 340% greater reach than any other piece of content on Facebook, saturated the on-line landscape with appeals to defend the Constitution from enemies both foreign AND DOMESTIC.”  [NOTE: INFOWARS would NEVER do something like publish such personal information about people.]

— “Biden’s electoral victory was certified but Trump refused to leave the White House.  He began to burn documents and potentially incriminating evidence, and continued to launch attacks against the legitimacy of the election.  President Trump released a series of pardons for members of his administration as well as himself before the Secret Service escorted him out of the White House.  But the Secret Service demonstrated its ‘culture of professionalism’ (as one member of the Federal Government Team indicated) by indicating that it would be ‘loyal to the office, not to the person’ and therefore it would escort Trump out of the White House on January 20.”

— “Trump transitions into running TRUMP TV, a new media outlet that immediately upon its founding calls for the impeachment of President Biden.”

— By early January 2021, Biden has begun the tasks of uniting the country and trying to pull America out of its lingering COVID-19 related economic and public health crisis.  He articulates a series of packages focused on infrastructure and healthcare / COVID-19 and actively seeks to involve Senate Republicans in the process.  The Biden Campaign also announces that moderate Republican governors Larry Hogan and Charlie Baker will be nominated to serve in his cabinet.  The President-Elect also establishes a joint investigation from the House and Senate Intelligence Committees to examine all forms of foreign interference in the 2020 election.

— The Biden Campaign had originally sought to create a ‘way out’ for Trump to concede the election during early turns.  By the end of the game, though, the Democratic Party had begun investigations into the criminal activities of President Trump and his family.









Closing “Recommendations” of the Report


Following are additional “recommendations” that the “non-partisan” report closes with.  (I have capitalized text as emphasis.)

There was no agreement among participants in the scenario planning exercises about what specific actions should be taken with regard to pursuing investigations and POSSIBLE CHARGES AGAINST PRESIDENT TRUMP and members of his Administration.  A new Administration, in partnership with a broad range of stakeholders, could consider a range of options including those used by other countries, such as truth and reconciliation commissions.

One question is whether to continue the tradition of offering legal immunity or pardons to Trump and his family.  There was a lively debate about whether any short-term gain from this diplomatic effort was worth a longer-term risk that corrupt or criminal practices would continue.

More broadly, there needs to be a robust, intentional, and specific strategy to challenge the WHITE SUPREMACIST AND EXTREMIST NETWORKS THAT ENABLED TRUMP’S RISE TO POWER and were in turn enabled by Trump’s administration.  This base will not automatically demobilize if and when Trump leaves office, and it is inimical to the kind of pluralist democracy the founders intended.

Finally, it is imperative that Congress take decisive action to limit executive power, as happened with in the wake of President Nixon’s abuses of power in the early 1970s.  One of the key findings of these scenario exercises is the extraordinary degree of de facto power that a President unbounded by norms or human decency can wield.  No president should be able to use the executive branch to settle political scores, damage perceived adversaries, or PURSUE PERSONAL FINANCIAL GAIN.  Principles of political decency that had been maintained through norms will have to be codified through law.  [NOTE: JOE BIDEN is notorious for using his political power for corrupt financial gain.]










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