Scenario: a political candidate appeals to voters with a mix of crass language and nativist ideology. Once elected, he solidifies his power by energizing his base against immigrants, people on welfare, and the liberal press. Who is this political candidate?
Think you know?
The candidate is Buzz Windrip, the main character of a book by Sinclair Lewis titled It Can’t Happen Here, published in 1935. According to fact-checker Snopes:
“Lewis painted a vivid counterfactual portrait of a United States of America sliding into dictatorship, one that is still cited as a cautionary tale to this day.”
And this brings us to the most asked question on Snopes:
Did Sinclair Lewis say, “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross”?
Lewis probably never used those exact words, but he did express the thought in different words.
Let’s put our heads together and see if we can think of a politician who is known for frequent attacks on our free press and our democratic principles, who rallies crowds with attacks on our justice system, who leads populist rallies with calls for political opponents to be locked up—even when their opponents have not been charged with a crime—and who would like to throw out the parts of our Constitution that interfere with his powers. Is there a politician who fits that description?
Yeah, I can’t think of anyone like that, either.
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