It Can Happen Here

Sinclair Lewis' prophetic novel is playing out before our eyes.

I just finished reading “It Can’t Happen Here” by Sinclair Lewis. Published in 1935, Lewis imagines how a fascist takeover of the United States might happen.

It’s not a great piece of literature. The writing is clunky, the characters are one-dimensional, and the narrative is unevenly paced. But it contains enough parallels to Trump 2.0 to raise the hair on the back of your neck.

Lewis tells the story of the 1936 Presidential election in which a populist candidate wins election by vanquishing old guard candidates. The candidate lacked any coherent political philosophy but showed an uncanny ability to tap into the national zeitgeist. His campaign fused religion with an explicitly nativist and populist platform railing against enemies within and without.

He attacked big business especially banks and promised to send $5000 checks to every citizen while at the same time getting people off welfare and back to work.

Things went South quickly after his election, however. The new President quickly consolidated power in himself and his party arguing that conditions in the country were so bad that only a strong, powerful ruler could fix things.

The media (in 1936 this primarily meant Newspapers) were attacked, universities were taken over, and non-profits were gutted. Gradually, these institutions capitulated to the President and his minions and became loyal and fervent supporters.

He deployed a private police force of supporters to crack down on dissent and to put minority groups in their place. Eventually, this “private” group received increasing amounts of government money until they became a fully functioning, well organized government police force. They root out pockets of resistance and placed any unwelcome people in camps.

The country became increasingly militarized and oppressive. Sham arrests occurred, due process was ignored, and vindictive prosecutions – especially of political enemies - followed.

His administration never took on the banks but instead made life comfortable and profitable for them. And those $5000 checks never arrived. In the end, the new President – who ran on an isolationist platform – talked about invading Mexico as resistance took shape across the country.

The book’s title is sarcastic and ironic. It argued that indeed fascism can happen here if enough people are selfish, complacent, and misinformed. Sound familiar? Trump 2.0 parallels most of the items catalogued in Lewis’ book even if they are not identical.

When the protagonist claimed that the new President will bring “a real Fascist dictatorship!” his friend (who eventually becomes a true believer) replied,

“That couldn’t happen in America, not possibly! We’re a country of freemen.”

To which our protagonist countered, “[T]he hell it can’t! Why, there’s no country in the world that can get more hysterical – yes, more obsequious! – that Americans.”

After listing things like the post WWI Red Scare, the rise of the KKK, lynchings, religious and ethnic bigotry, and anti-evolution campaigns, he concluded, “Why, where in all of history has there ever been a people so ripe for a dictatorship as ours! We’re ready to start a Children’s Crusade – only of adults – right now and [religious leaders] are all ready to lead it!”

Lewis’ vision didn’t happen in the 1930’s. We fought WWII to rid the world of fascism. But today, fascism has arrived in the United States. Trump ticks all of Lewis’s boxes:

· Strong man rule

· Fake populism

· Fusion of big business and government power

· Imperial adventurism (as either a strategy or a distraction)

· Explicit racism and nationalism

· Wedding religion and his movement

· Use of a private police force against undesirables

· Crackdown on dissent

· Persecution of political rivals

· Normalization of violence

In Greek mythology, Cassandra warned the Trojans about the horse that the Greeks left at their gates. “Don’t open the horse,” she warned. “Whatever you do, don’t open the horse.” But the Trojans wouldn’t believe her. “It’s not that bad. It looks kinda nice and, anyway, nothing bad can happen here. We’re smart people.”

Cassandras are screaming right now to the American people: “Wake up! It can happen here. If we don’t take this threat seriously – if we open that horse – we may not recover our democracy and our way of life for years – if ever!”