Not to be confused with the program of the same name operated by the Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement and David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

The Democracy Futures Project (Brennan Center) is a left-of-center democracy-related simulation and research program operated by the William J. Brennan Center for Justice. ¹

In May and June 2024, Democracy Futures Project hosted several workshops that were predicated on “an authoritarian candidate winning the presidency to test the resilience of democratic institutions” ² and sought insights into “what might happen if a second Trump administration follows through” on alleged autocratic threats from former President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. ³

History and Leadership

The Brennan Center’s Democracy Futures Project began in May 2024. ²

Miriam Rosenbaum is the director of the Democracy Futures Project. Rosenbaum also is a director at the William J. Brennan Center for Justice. ^{4 5} The Democracy Futures Project is co-led by Rosa Brooks of Georgetown University, Brennan Center senior advisor Barton Gellman, and Nils Gilman. ^{3 6 2 6 7}

Prior to joining the Brennan Center, Gellman was a writer for The Atlantic, a senior fellow at the left-of-center Century Foundation, and a writer for the Washington Post. ²

Programming

The Democracy Futures Project ⁸ is a left-of-center democracy-related simulation and research program operated by the William J. Brennan Center for Justice. ¹ It performs scenario planning for the upcoming presidential administration (since November 2024, expected to be the second Trump administration) that will begin in January 2025. ⁴

In May and June 2024, the Brennan Center organized five tabletop exercises as a part of the Democracy Futures Project that were predicated on “an authoritarian candidate winning the presidency to test the resilience of democratic institutions.” ² The event organized five simulation exercises for insights into “what might happen if a second Trump administration follows through” on alleged autocratic threats from the 2024 presidential campaign of former President Donald Trump. ³

According to the Brennan Center, these scenarios were based on public statements made by former President Trump regarding a second term in office. The simulation included more than 200 officials ⁹ including individuals whom the Brennan Center identified as Democrats, independents, Republicans, liberals, conservatives, and centrists. ²

Left-wing British newspaper The Guardian attended two sessions as an observer and reported that the simulations included a scenario in which the Insurrection Act was used. The paper also reported that former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele, Trump administration Department of Homeland Security official Elizabeth Neumann, and Clinton administration U.S. Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig participated in the exercises. ¹⁰ Other reports indicate the exercises considered how a Republican-controlled Congress would act and other exercises focused on policy areas including immigration, domestic use of the military, and the possible uses of regulatory, investigative, and prosecutorial powers. ³

According to left-of-center opinion journal The New Republic, the programming was run to envision “different ways Trump and his administration might dismantle key elements of [American] democracy.” ¹¹  

The Bulwark, a nominally right-leaning political-commentary website opposed to former President Trump and Republican politicians, reported that participants in the exercise included former members of Congress and George W. Bush administration officials, including former Environmental Protection Agency administrator and former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman (R), retired senior military officers, labor union officials, political activists, business executives, and representatives from the Democracy Funders Network. ^{3 12 2 6}

Funding

The Democracy Futures Project is a project of the left-of-center William J. Brennan Center for Justice. ¹

1. “The Democracy Futures Project.” Brennan Center for Justice. Accessed November 3, 2024. https://www.brennancenter.org/democracy-futures-project.
2.  The Democracy Futures Project.” Brennan Center for Justice. Accessed November 1, 2024. https://www.brennancenter.org/democracy-futures-project.
3. Brooks, Rosa. “Democracy Will Suffer a Relatively Quiet Death. We Simulated It.” The Bulwark. July 30, 2024. Accessed November 2, 2024. https://www.thebulwark.com/p/democracy-suffer-quiet-death-simulated-trump.
4. “Miriam Rosenbaum.” Brennan Center for Justice. Accessed November 1, 2024. https://www.brennancenter.org/about/leadership/miriam-rosenbaum.
5. “Miriam Rosenbaum.” LinkedIn Profile. Accessed November 1, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/miriam-rosenbaum-5a33b6223/.
6. “Preparing for Authoritarianism: Implications for Funders.” Democracy Funders Network. August 13, 2024. Accessed November 2, 2024. https://www.democracyfundersnetwork.org/events/preparing-for-authoritarisnism-implications-for-funders-20240813.
7. “Barton Gellman.” Brennan Center. Accessed November 3, 2024. https://www.brennancenter.org/about/leadership/barton-gellman
8.  “The Democracy Futures Project.” Democracy Futures Project. Accessed November 1, 2024. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AQ5IsI_N4NQRq3goPPJaIceCuiCWS9VK/view.
9. Rothkopf, David. “Here’s How President Trump Would Run Roughshod Over Our Democracy.” The New Republic. July 30, 2024. https://newrepublic.com/article/184344/heres-president-trump-run-roughshod-democracy.
10. Ed Pilkington and Kira Lerner. “Washington insiders simulated a second Trump presidency. Can a role-play save democracy?” The Guardian. July 30, 2024. Accessed November 2, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/30/washington-dc-role-play-second-trump-term.
11. Rothkopf, David. “Here’s How President Trump Would Run Roughshod Over Our Democracy.” The New Republic. July 30, 2024. Accessed November 1, 2024. https://newrepublic.com/article/184344/heres-president-trump-run-roughshod-democracy.
12. Gellman, Barton. “How to Harden Our Defenses Against an Authoritarian President.” Brennan Center for Justice. August 1, 2024. Accessed November 2, 2024. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/how-harden-our-defenses-against-authoritarian-president.