Marc Alan Di Martino
Because a Trump dictatorship can absolutely happen in America
In 1935, Sinclair Lewis published the dystopian novel It Can’t Happen Here, which imagined what might happen if America elected a dictator. Lewis was watching the world around him fall into the grip of fascism, and asked what it might look like if it happened here. How might fascism in America be different from, say, Nazi Germany or fascist Italy? The following is a plot summary (as found on Wikipedia):
The novel describes the rise of Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip, a demagogue who is elected President of the United States, after fomenting fear and promising drastic economic and social reforms while promoting a return to patriotism and “traditional” values. After his election, Windrip takes complete control of the government via self-coup and imposes totalitarian rule with the help of a ruthless paramilitary force, in the manner of European fascists such as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
The Trump phenomenon is the Buzz Windrip phenomenon. The demagoguery, the phony populism, the paramilitary phalanxes, the false promises, and garish showmanship. Windrip was modeled on Adolf Hitler, of course, and quite recently Donald Trump has been modeling himself on Adolf Hitler too. He refers to journalists as the “enemy of the people.” He calls immigrants “animals” and “not human”. He blames them for every problem in sight. He says they are “poisoning the blood of our country.” He says he wants to be “a dictator on day one.” It’s all there, every outlandish syllable.
Not that Donald Trump has ever read Sinclair Lewis’s book, or any other work of literature. Perhaps he has read Hitler’s Mein Kampf, or parts of it, though by the looks of it he is functionally illiterate. What he has is instinct, impulse, and a mouth with which to make noise. That is his weapon of mass destruction.
“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a Cross.” This quote has often been circulated on the internet, and attributed to Sinclair Lewis (though it has apparently not been found anywhere in his works). In any case, it is spot on. Donald Trump drapes himself in the American flag every chance he gets, though he despises the Constitution and has vowed to “terminate” it. He now sells a “God Save the USA Bible,” complete with the American flag on its cover and the Constitution and Bill of Rights among its contents. This tasteless trinket of the Christian nationalist fever dream is printed in—you guessed it—China.
These facts speak for themselves. We know who Donald Trump is and what he will do if given power again. We know he is a man without qualities, feckless and dishonest, fundamentally weak, and motivated by the basest of human instincts. He is always ready to sacrifice anything or anyone for his own self-gain. He is a convicted criminal with multiple trials pending, whose primary motive for running in this election is not to serve the country but to escape prison.
It is imperative that we stand together on November 5 to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, expand the Senate and regain the House in order to defeat this impostor once and for all. (He is seventy-eight years old and will not have another chance at this, and a Harris victory will be the final nail in his political coffin.) The alternative—especially in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision on immunity—is almost unthinkable.
It can happen here, but only if we let it.
Marc Alan Di Martino is a poet and translator.