It IS Happening Here
Democracy isn’t self-executing or self-correcting. It survives when we defend it.
In 1935, Sinclair Lewis wrote a novel titled It Can’t Happen Here, a chilling depiction of how fascism could take root in America under the guise of patriotism. It was meant as a cautionary tale — a work of fiction. Ninety years after its publication (and decades since I last read it), I am reading that novel again. This time, not as satire or speculative history, but as a mirror to our present.
I’ve just returned from two weeks abroad visiting my wife’s family in Thailand — a tradition we’ve kept for the more than 25 years we have been together. On these visits to SE Asia, I gain some perspective on how the USA is perceived outside its borders. In all those years, I have never witnessed global opinion of the United States ‘brand’ sink so low. The country that once stood for freedom, decency, and the rule of law now projects a face of intimidation, cruelty, and lawless ambition.
On the eve of our Republic’s 250th birthday, this current president — whose administration is marked by chaos, authoritarianism, and moral rot — is dragging us toward a cliff. While I was away, I watched Trump threaten a NATO ally with imperialist rhetoric (Denmark), launch a reckless incursion into Venezuela, serve subpoenas to faithful public servants (Fed Chairman Jerome Powell) and turn domestic security forces (ICE) into instruments of fear and murder.
These are not policies.
But they are warnings to us all.
In the short year of this, his second time in office, Trump has consistently and repeatedly smeared immigrants, targeted federal officials, and undermined the rule of law. His feckless enablers echo his contempt for democratic norms while branding all dissent as disloyalty. Moreover, they routinely sow disinformation, asking us to disbelieve what is manifestly verifiable. January 6, 2021 we are told to believe was a ‘day of love,’ the mother who just dropped her child off at school and was shot driving away from cowardly masked ICE agents was a ‘domestic terrorist,’ and so on.
This is not leadership. Rather, Trump and his minions are trying to break America and remake it in his own image, as demagogues have done throughout history.
But know this: he will not succeed.
I am a native-born American — born in Iowa, raised in Michigan, now living in Ohio. I come from the heartland he claims as his base. And I am telling you plainly: he is not admired here. He is feared and mistrusted; but he is not admired, and he is increasingly opposed.
I am the child of Irish immigrants who came here after the famine in the mid-19th century, when America was a beacon to the “…poor, tired, huddled masses” of the world. An Eagle Scout and a Peace Corps Volunteer who has always tried to serve his country faithfully. A physician who works daily with immigrant families — including the Somali Americans Trump has vilified. I have found them consistently to be better citizens than he will ever be. I am a cradle Catholic, raised to believe in decency, justice, and truth. And I oppose everything Catholics in this administration, like the VP JD Vance, are doing with every fiber of my being [and so too does the current Pope].
This country is facing its greatest threat since the Civil War: not from a foreign enemy, but from a strongman with contempt for the very system that gave him power. But the Republic is stronger than his ambition. And history — if we persevere as Americans have when challenged before — will remember who stood up and who stayed silent.
It Can’t Happen Here, we once told ourselves. But it is happening here. And so we must fight — not with fear, but with resolve.
As Americans, this is the greatest challenge of our lifetimes. Let us rise to the challenge to ensure this demagogue will not be the end of the Republic.
As we celebrate the 250th birthday of the Republic, let all Americans dedicate themselves to the timeless words of Abraham Lincoln, spoken in the Gettysburg Address: