The Possibility of a Coup dÉtat. Douglas Kennedys Chronicle

In 1935, as fascism spread its influence across Europe and populists like Huey Long in Louisiana fought to defend the “common people” while criticizing Roosevelt and his New Deal, the great Sinclair Lewis published a novel of anticipation. He told the story of Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip, an authoritarian candidate who came out of nowhere to win the presidency.

Elected on a platform of drastic fiscal and social reforms, he bought votes by promising $5,000 to every citizen in case of victory. He emphasized the usual themes of the radical right: God, the flag, the family. Then, following the 1933 Hitlerian manual to the letter, Windrip became the ultimate dictator, overthrew Congress, and relied on paramilitary militias to impose the rule of his single party.

Sinclair Lewis, Nobel Prize winner in literature, was a keen observer of American conformity and narrow-mindedness. In his novels like “Main Street” or “Babbitt,” he exposed the hidden human baseness behind the postcard decor of small towns, as well as the slavish obligation to support a lifestyle dictated by big corporations. Considering that these works are over a century old, it is clear that Lewis was a visionary, able to uncover the inherent hypocrisy and tendency toward social Darwinism in the American identity.

Not just a simple concern

Given what is currently happening on the domestic front, it is hardly surprising that the title of the aforementioned novel about the fictional rise of the first dictator in US history has become a rallying cry: “Impossible here” (“It Can’t Happen Here”).