Future Fiction: How it ends

The events of April 14th 2025 will be long remembered for ending the Trump administration and setting America on a new path

What follows is speculative fiction, nothing more.

Credit: Camerique / Mary Evans

‘Hey Mike, come in here, quickly, on the TV.’

‘What is it?’

‘Shush, listen,’ Susie said, grabbing the remote and turning up the sound.

‘I repeat, reports are coming in of explosions and automatic gunfire in the vicinity of the White House.’ As she spoke, the announcer looked beyond the camera, appearing to lose her composure for a moment.

She looked back into the camera. ‘I’ve just been told,’ she said, ‘that there are tanks on the lawn of the White House.’ She continued to look into the camera but said nothing.

‘What the fuck,’ Mike said.

‘It’s happening,” Susie said, looking at him.

‘Jesus, maybe it is. But who? And how?’

The announcer looked away from the camera again: ‘There are military personnel in the studio,’ she said, panic in her voice.

The screen went blank.

‘Try CNN,’ Mike said.

Susie quickly tried several channels, all of them dead.

It was 6:30pm, the end of a warm spring day. Mike had finished work early, picked the kids up from school and taken them for Mexican so his wife could get a little more work done.

‘You know the White House is less than 20 miles from here,’ Susie said.

‘I do,’ Mike replied, trying not to laugh. ‘I used to work there, remember. So did you.’

‘Yep. Just 10 years ago,’ she replied. ‘Seems like a world away now. How do we find out what’s happening. How do they shut down all the TV stations like that?’

‘I don’t know, but there won’t be any radio either. Let me grab that old short wave set. I doubt they’ll be blocking overseas broadcasts, not yet anyway.’

Susie continued to stare at the blank TV screen until she heard voices outside. She could see some of their neighbours had gathered at the end of the driveway, all looking perplexed and agitated, apparently asking each other the same question, over and over.

Mike returned with the short wave radio. ‘Still tuned to World Service,’ he said, placing it on the counter.

‘…. there appears to be a communications black out across the United States’, the announcer said in an English accent. ‘All we know is that until a few minutes ago American news outlets were reporting what appeared to be a military assault on the White House.’ There was silence for a moment, then: ‘We are now going live to the Newshour studio’.

‘Good afternoon. This is Julian Worricker with special edition of Newshour.’

There was a knock at the front door. Susie answered it. It was their friend Doug from across the street. She waved him into the kitchen.

‘So, my politically-connected friends, what’s going down?’ Doug asked.

‘Nothing much on the BBC,’ Mike said, before turning to Doug, taking him by both shoulders and shaking him vigorously, ‘isn’t it great though?’ he said.

‘Well it could be,’ Doug answered. ‘I guess it depends on who the special ops guys who just walked into CBS News are working for. I knew you two would find a way to get more information though,’ he continued, pointing to the short wave radio.

‘Had that little set for 25 years at least. Probably the only one on the street. But don’t tell everyone, there’s only so much beer in the refrigerator.’

‘God yes,’ Susie said, ‘let’s have a beer, I need something to calm my nerves.’

‘Hold on,’ Mike said, evidently having heard something of interest on the radio.

‘We have just received a communication from the White House, which has come to us via the Foreign Office here in London. The communication is unsigned but has been authenticated by officials at the Foreign Office. It reads as follows:’

All means of electronic communications in the United States of America are currently suspended. This includes television, radio, the internet and cellular networks. Because the US shares communication infrastructure with Canada, large parts of that country are also without comms at present. We wish to apologise to the people of Canada for this intrusion, and we thank the Canadian government for their cooperation.

If all goes according to plan, a broadcast will be made via TV, radio and internet-based channels at 9pm eastern this evening. If things do not go to plan, then a further communication will be issued via the Foreign Office in London.

Please do not be alarmed. Continue with your lives as normally as possible. We suggest that you stay at home, or return home to be with your loved ones, and await the announcement at 9pm eastern.

God save America.

They looked at each other in silence for several seconds.

‘This is it then. A military coup', Mike said eventually.

‘Technically, a counter-coup.’ Susie replied, eyebrows raised.

‘Jeez. Tanks on the White House lawn?’, Doug said. ‘Did you ever think it would come to this?’

‘I wouldn’t have predicted it,’ Mike answered, ‘but something had to happen. Once he shut down the courts and effectively suspended the constitution, all legitimate ways of removing Trump from office were closed off. He either stayed in power or was removed by force.’

‘Let’s hope they know what they’re doing, whoever they are,’ Doug said.

‘And let’s hope they have a plan, and that they have everything in place,’ Susie added. ‘This could end up being the most important day in our country’s history.’

‘Or the start of a second Civil War,’ Mike countered.

‘God, yes,’ Doug said, as if only just realising the gravity of the situation. ‘All those assault rifles in the hands of maga Republicans. This could end very badly.’

‘Yup. How many liberals do you know who own a gun, or even know how to use one?’ Susie said.

Another short silence was broken by the sound of sirens in the distance. Susie looked at Mike.

‘Who knows,’ he said, shrugging. ‘Could be National Guard. Could be the police. We have to assume the army is fully involved in this, but there’s no way of knowing if,’ he paused for a moment, then he smiled. ‘I was going to say rebels, but that makes them sound like the bad guys. What do we call these people, whoever they are? Decent Americans saving the country from tyranny. What do we call them?’

‘If they pull this off, I guess we’ll be calling them saviours’, Susie said.

‘Yes,’ Doug said. ‘All power to the saviours’.

The next two hours passed slowly. They were joined by Doug’s partner, Eugene, and Dennis and Julia from two doors down who brought food. Julia was a wonderful cook and always seemed to have enough in the house to feed a small army.

They chatted about what had happened in the three months since Trump’s inauguration: The summary dismissal of thousands of government employees. The takeover of the national security infrastructure by people long-acknowledged to themselves be a threat to national security. The forced suspension of vaccination programs putting the lives of millions of children at risk. The withdrawal of federal funding from programmes aimed at relieving the poverty of the poorest Americans. The forced suspension of initiatives aiming to give all Americans an equal chance in the labour market regardless of race, religion, gender, sexuality or disability. The closure of the few remaining public hospitals as a result of their funding being illegally cut off.

They discussed the disastrous economic policies that had led to rampant inflation, especially in respect of food prices, and the subsequent riots in poorer parts of nearly every major city, many of which had been quelled by unidentifiable black-clad military-trained personnel, with the loss of dozens of civilian lives.

They remembered the photos smuggled out of the new detention centres in Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere, hastily set up to incarcerate people suspected of being in the US illegally. Smuggled-out photos that not only revealed appalling overcrowding and hideous living conditions, but also enabled relatives to identify their loved ones and provide evidence to the media that many of these so-called illegals had been living perfectly legally in the United States for many years.

And they expressed their anger at the abject failure of the mainstream media to hold the Trump administration to account for its authoritarian, anti-democratic, illegal and unconstitutional behaviour. Or to report properly the consequences of the gangs of Musk acolytes illegally hacking into federal computer systems to steal data on employees, and to disable crucial government payment systems. And the dismantling of regulatory controls so that Trump and his cronies could establish dubious new Bitcoin ETFs for their own personal enrichment, which everyone knew were giant Ponzi schemes. Then there was Trump’s apparent determination to seek a third term in violation of the 22nd Amendment.

They also talked of the impotence they had all felt. The climate of fear that had overcome many workplaces. The anxiety that came with knowing that an unhinged maniac had taken unlimited power for himself, and appointed a gang of criminally-minded psychopaths to tear down the infrastructure of state. The shock of discovering that the checks and balances supposedly built into the constitution were worth less than the parchment onto which that constitution had originally been written. And the realization that the United States was rapidly coming to be regarded as a rogue state by most of its former allies, a country that nobody wanted to do business with, or to engage with diplomatically.

Everyone they had spoken to, including a fair number who had voted for Trump, knew that something extra-judicial or extra-constitutional would be required to remove Trump from office. But nobody quite knew how. Until now.

As 9pm approached, there was a distinct sense of unease in the room. Other neighbours had arrived, bearing gifts of food, beer and wine, all wanting to hear whatever the BBC had to tell them via Mike’s short wave radio.

Which wasn’t much: a series of expert commentators speculating on what might have happened, or be happening; who might be involved; the likely fate of Trump, Musk and other administration officials. Unusually, there were no statements from other world leaders, at least none that were being reported.

Then at 8:57 an announcement from the BBC. The world was invited to tune into a broadcast from the White House at 9pm via all channels.

They had left the TV on with the sound down. Susie turned it back up. A dozen terrified Americans, some seated, some standing, stared at the screen which, after what felt like an age, burst into life.

The Oval Office. Behind the President’s desk sat a white-haired man. Behind him, standing in an arc, were eight people, men and women, all instantly recognisable.

‘Shit, there’s Obama,’ Mike said first.

‘That’s Elizabeth Warren, and there’s AOC,’ Susie cut in, ‘so she’s not under house arrest, after all’.

‘Hang on, Doug said, “there’s George W. and look, Liz Cheney.’

‘Who’s the old guy in the wheelchair?’ Eugene asked.

‘That’s Mitch McConnell,’ Mike said quietly, ‘Bill Clinton next to him.’

‘Whoa, and isn’t that Bill Gates at the end,’ Doug said.

‘Yep,’ Susie said, ‘and Mike Pence in the chair.’

Having identified everyone they could see, the room fell silent. There was still no sound on the broadcast. Slowly the camera panned out, first to the left, then to the right, to reveal more than a dozen others: Interspersed with several high-ranking officers in military uniform were Condoleeza Rice, Mitt Romney, Kamala Harris, Robert Gates, Pete Buttigieg, Dick Cheney, Chuck Hagel, John Bolton and, in civilian clothes, David Petraeus.

‘Who’s the guy standing next to Condi Rice?’ Eugene asked.

‘That’s Thom Tillis,’ Susie replied. Republican Senator from North Carolina.

‘It’s certainly quite a line up,’ as Mike spoke the camera focused once again on the Resolute Desk and Mike Pence cleared his throat.

‘My fellow Americans,’ he began. Four hours ago, an operation involving all six branches of the United States Armed Forces was launched to extinguish the clear and present threat to the future our great country posed by the administration of President Donald J. Trump. President Trump, Vice President Vance and a number of senior administration officials are now in custody. Regrettably, in the operation to take the White House, Mr Elon Musk was fatally wounded.’

‘Good riddance,’ Julia said coldly.

Pence continued: ‘Today’s operation has been several weeks in the planning. Everyone in the Oval Office with me today has been deeply involved in that process. A nine person Presidential Council, chaired by myself, has been established to run the Federal Government until elections can be held. It is our fervent hope that those elections will be held on Tuesday 4th November, just seven months from now. Until those elections are held, both houses of Congress are suspended, although state and local government will continue to operate under the leadership of incumbent governors, mayors and other elected legislators.’

‘The Supreme Court is also suspended, and while the Constitution of the United States remains in place, it is clear that it has been found to be sorely lacking in it’s capacity to check the power of the executive branch.’

‘I can assure you that this operation has the full support of all senior ranks in all six of our armed services. Any attempted insurrection, even if led by elected representatives at state or local level, will be ruthlessly repressed. Any citizen observed bearing arms in public will be forcibly disarmed. Operations are currently underway to round up members of the private militias used by the Trump administration to suppress public protests over the last two months. A few minutes ago I was informed that more than 10,000 members of these illegal militias have already be taken into custody’.

‘All Trump appointments to cabinet posts are rescinded with immediate effect. Each department of state will be temporarily administered by the Presidential Council with the help of the men and women standing with us here in the Oval Office. All Federal Government employees whose employment was summarily terminated in the last three months are invited to return to work on Monday morning.’

‘My fellow Americans, I know that many of you will be shocked by today’s events. In the next few days a panel of inquiry will be established to investigate fully the events of the past three months, including the means by which this new Presidential Council was established and today assumed power. That panel will consist of the Prime Ministers of Canada, Mexico, Denmark, Italy, South Africa and India, under the chairmanship of the President of European Commission.’

‘A separate commission will be established to review the failure of the constitution to check the power of the Trump administration. This will comprise our country’s leading constitutional lawyers, along with senior retired politicians from both the Democratic and Republican parties. It will be chaired by my good friend, President Obama.’ Pence looked behind him to acknowledge Obama.

Turning back to the camera he continued: ‘Democracy is worth nothing if it delivers power to a group of people set on dismantling the democratic process, ignoring the rule of law, upending the social contract, and destroying the institutions of civil society which shape a modern nation, and upon which order and equity depend.’

‘Finally, everybody here assembled wishes to acknowledge the fact that successive governments have played a part in allowing into power an administration intent on rejecting the ideals of democracy and the values of pluralism, tolerance and compassion; the very foundations on which this great nation of ours was built.’

‘We have allowed the economy to be hijacked by a tiny minority of super-rich; people whose only motivation is to consolidate their absolute economic power in order to line their own pockets, and those of their allies. The Presidential Council asks for your patience and support while it attempts to enact measures to address the failings that drove many millions of citizens to vote for President Trump. Thank you.’

As Pence finished speaking, those lined up behind him started clapping. The camera again panned around the Oval Office to show everyone present joining in the applause. Pence stood, pushed back his chair, and shook the hand of each member of the Presidential Council in turn.

Mike, Susie and Doug joined in the applause, slowly joined by all of their guests.

Epilogue

A general election was indeed held on November 4th 2025. A previously little known law professor with no allegiance to either major party was elected as the 48th President. She was the first woman to be elected to the post. Elections to the Senate resulted in a record number of independents taking their seats, denying a majority to either the Democratic or Republican parties. With no majority, an independent was elected as House Leader, with the support of 93 of his fellow senators.

In the House of Representatives, the changes were even more marked. Independents constituted a majority, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who had become de facto spokesperson for the Presidential Council during the interregnum, was elected Speaker, carrying a majority not only of Independents and Democrats, but also of Republicans.

The governorships of 23 states also went to independent candidates, and in only eleven state assemblies was a ruling majority achieved by either of the two established parties.

In two referenda held on polling day, 72 per cent of voters approved the report of the Commission of World Leaders, as it had become known, which found no wrong doing on the part of those who conspired in the coup of April 14th which brought the Presidential Council to power. In a separate vote, 81 per cent supported the initial report of the Constitutional Commission, and its request that it be allowed to continue its work with a view to proposing major amendments to the constitution for approval by Congress ahead of the mid-term elections now re-scheduled for November 2027. The average turnout across the Presidential and Congressional elections and the two referenda was an unprecedented 84 per cent of eligible voters.

At the time of writing, two weeks after the inauguration of President Austin, the people of the United States are, in the words of one observer, breathing a collective sigh of relief.

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