{"id":3132,"date":"2026-05-22T20:48:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:48:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/?p=3132"},"modified":"2026-05-22T20:48:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:48:37","slug":"the-novel-that-predicted-trumps-fascism-for-dummies-on-sinclair-lewiss-1935-bestseller-it-cant-happen-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/index.php\/2026\/05\/22\/the-novel-that-predicted-trumps-fascism-for-dummies-on-sinclair-lewiss-1935-bestseller-it-cant-happen-here\/","title":{"rendered":"The Novel That Predicted Trump’s ‘Fascism for Dummies’: On Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 Bestseller \u201cIt Can\u2019t Happen Here\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So for years I\u2019ve come across mentions of Sinclair Lewis\u2019s infamous novel It Can\u2019t Happen Here<\/em>, published in 1935, which depicts the Fascist takeover of the U.S. government by a duly elected conman, Buzz Windrip. Many have noted the similarities between Windrip\u2019s rise to power and Trump\u2019s. Both rode waves of populist support. Both parlayed a resentment of \u201celites\u201d into a successful installation of corrupt, abusive government. I finally got around to reading it and agree that it\u2019s a classic, warts and all. Some of the similarities are eerie and some of the differences are, well, somewhat hopeful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lewis notes how, like Trump, his fictional strong-man POTUS stocks his cabinet with lackeys and goons to do his bidding. But his use of the man manipulating Windrip is the eerie part: The sinister politico Lee Sarason is the idea-man behind Windrip\u2019s agenda, and comparable to Hitler\u2019s German cronies such as Hermann Goring. He seems a lot like Stephen Miller, Trump\u2019s deputy chief of staff known for promoting White Nationalist policies. In the novel, Sarason eventually deposes the elected Windrip and installs himself in as new president (after exiling the legitimate Vice President). That\u2019s one trick Miller probably can\u2019t emulate. And as far as the differences go, perhaps the biggest noticeable difference is the popularity of Windrip\u2019s newly elected regime, initially. In time his fascistic policies lead to Civil War, but at first he\u2019s much more liked than Trump, at least at this stage of Trump\u2019s corrupt regime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mentioned \u201cwarts and all\u201d: For one thing, the names are silly (Berzelius Windrip, Hector Macgoblin, many others): They establish a comic tone that undercuts the seriousness of his subject. Much of the action is summarized, not dramatized. It helps Lewis cover a lot of ground in a short period of page-time. (The ebook is only some 180 pages long.) But at times it creates a static feel, of events being summarized rather than brought to life with good description, dramatic action, and characterization. The main character, Doremus (\u201cDormouse\u201d) Jessup, is the local editor of a small-town newspaper in Vermont. He\u2019s no Bernie Sanders, although the book does have lengthy discussions about Socialism and Communism. He\u2019s an Everyman of sorts\u2014a bit nebbishy, quiet, soft-spoken, and careful. He\u2019s horrified by Windrip\u2019s rise to power and its abuses, but feels powerless to stop it. Perhaps the most dramatic turning point in the novel is the killing of Jessup\u2019s son-in-law, a doctor, which underscores the danger for Windrip\u2019s family and friends. Doremus is ultimately thrown in a concentration camp for publishing anti-Fascist writings (against the \u201cCorpo\u201d regime of Windrip\u2019s \u201cCorporate\u201d party), beaten and abused, from which he escapes and joins the Resistance movement.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I should note Sinclair Lewis was the first American writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 1930. The timing of the novel\u2019s creation makes it a fascinating historical document. Lewis wrote it five years later, in the summer of 1935, before the election of 1936, during the crucial years of Adolph Hitler\u2019s rise to power. (It\u2019s even before Kristallnacht, in 1938.) Fans of WWII-era history should read It Can\u2019t Happen Here <\/em>and William Shirer\u2019s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich<\/em> (1960) as companion pieces. Both explain, in part, the allure of Fascist policies, and how the Great Depression created an atmosphere ripe for strongman politics. Contemporary history often credits FDR\u2019s New Deal policies for helping to ease the Great Depression, but Lewis\u2019s ground-level narrative portrays a populace fed-up with Roosevelt\u2019s policies and frustrated at the lack of economic growth. One of Windrip\u2019s campaign promises is a gift of $5,000 to every American, on which of course he never delivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Of these two books,\u00a0The Rise and Fall<\/em>\u00a0is the better read, for my money, by far (and much longer). Shirer does a great job of bringing the atmosphere of Germany in the 1930s to life, and the sinister and effective ways Hitler seized power in the mid-decade. (For one thing, he was elected. Then rigged the system to prevent his party from losing future elections.) But Lewis\u2019s\u00a0It Can\u2019t Happen Here<\/em>\u00a0is a good companion, showing how Americans were worried about the rise of Fascism in the U.S. At times it also echoes George Orwell\u2019s\u00a01984<\/em>\u00a0(1949), with more lighthearted jokes and folksy characters. Imagine\u00a01984<\/em>\u00a0narrated by Andy Griffith.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imagine\u00a01984\u00a0narrated by Andy Griffith.\u00a0 Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[464,304,465],"tags":[55,85,95,466,467],"class_list":["post-3132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fascism-2026","category-fiction-writing","category-sinclair-lewis-novels","tag-book-reviewing","tag-fiction-writing","tag-good-fiction","tag-sinclair-lewiss-novel-it-cant-happen-here","tag-william-shirers-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-third-reich"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3132"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3143,"href":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3132\/revisions\/3143"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}