"IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE" (1935) - Sinclair Lewis.... Or, can it????? Or, Has it?????

Born in 1885 and graduated from Yale in 1908, Lewis gained fame as a novelist through the 1920's and 30's.  Author of such works as "Main Street" (1920), "Babbitt" (1922), "Arrowsmith" (1925), and "Elmer Gantry" (1927) - taken together, the 1920s were considered to be his best working decade. Lewis penned his more famous novel, "It Can't Happen Here", in 1935 in the midst of the Great Depression and during the rise of authoritarianism and dictatorship in Europe. His novel presented a picture of the American Democracy sinking into fascism, not unlike some of its western counterparts in Europe, in spite of the widely held notion that such a thing could not happen in the US.  His novel depicts a President who has risen up in a surprising way, upends the traditional political candidates, wins the presidency and becomes dictator - complete with warrant-less arrests of opponents, gun-toting, militia-like supporters named "Minute Men" (notably, otherwise known as "Militia"), and a number of concentration camps around the country.  These repressive acts and more were all designed to save the nation from welfare cheats, promiscuity, crime, and a liberal press accused of manufacturing negative "news" about the president and his actions (can you say "fake news?"). 

One of the characters in the Lewis book is Doremus Jessup, a  liberal Vermont newspaper editor. Jessup, against the advice of his family and friends, editorializes against President Berzelius Windrip, who swept into office and instituted American totalitarianism draped in red, white , and blue hyper patriotism. Jessup publishes an editorial critical of President Windrip - and is promptly arrested.  While in custody, Jessup reasons that "minding his own business" was one of the primary reasons that fascism arose in America.  The failing, he concludes, was that "it is those who have let the demagogues wriggle in, without fierce enough protest."

In an copyrighted introduction to the 2005 printing of the novel, Michael Meyer, PhD, a professor of English at the University of Connecticut with numerous scholarly articles, notes that after his release from detention, Jessup works to publish an underground paper - "Vermont Vigilance."  The publication, defined as "seditious", exposes the corruption of the "American Corporate State and the US Patriotic Party." Jessup's oldest daughter slips pamphlets into copies of the Reader's Digest while his younger daughter is a "secret agent" in the "enemy camp" gathering fodder for his publication.  Jessup is soon arrested during a Minute man raid on his home, is taken to a concentration camp, and nearly beaten to death. He later escapes and joins the RESISTANCE in Minnesota coordinating raids against Minute Man posts. Although the book does not end with a restoration of our Democracy, it alerted a generation of Americans to the dangers that were evident at that moment in history.

If all of this sounds vaguely familiar, welcome to the era of Trump!  With his penchant for authoritarianism, deriding of federal law enforcement institutions, attacks on the free press as "fake news", and the on-going interference with the Mueller investigation of Russian involvement in the 2016 federal election as well as Congressional probes, can "camps" be far behind?.

 Of course, Trump cannot do all of this alone - he needs cooperators.... "quislings".... or, in the language of criminal law, "co-conspirators."  One of these is House Member Devin Nunes, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and author of the now infamous, "Nunes Memorandum."  The Chairman reprised his "quisling" role from earlier in the Mueller probe that resulted in his having to recuse himself from the Intelligence Committee review of Russian interference in the election. Last week he issued his long-anticipated "memo" - described by the Department of Justice and the FBI - notably, both headed by Trump-appointed Republicans - as "dangerous", a "threat to national security", and containing "material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy." The plea to maintain the confidentiality of classified information by both FBI Director Wray, and Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein made to the White House Chief of Staff Kelly, was rejected out of hand. Trump reacted by described the credibility of the FBI as being "the worst in history."  The obvious objective of the Nunes memo - which reveals nothing new or shocking at all - was to muddy the investigative waters of the Mueller probe and to cause a threat to Rosenstein as well.  Many view the memo as providing a weak basis for Trump to fire either or both men who he sees as a threat to his presidency.  In reality, the memo is no more than a political propaganda piece intended to protect the President by attacking Mueller and Rosenstein.  A McCarthy-like hit piece on the investigation itself, the Nunes memo cherry-picks information and spins it into a narrative that is aimed at undermining the investigation and, therefore, any finding that Trump either colluded with Russians, laundered money, or obstructed justice, or perhaps all three - regardless of the facts presented.  After all, in Trumpworld,  facts don't matter, especially when "alternative facts" will do - like, the entire inquiry was driven by anti-Trump partisanship!  Never-mind, that all of these appointed officials at DOJ, CIA, and FBI are Republicans and were all were appointed by Trump or his allies! Further, absolutely no one would allege that the FBI is some hotbed of left-wing Clinton sympathizers! Autocrats, as in the Sinclair Lewis novel, cannot prevail unless they have allies to give them cover. Thanks to Nunes, Paul Ryan, and their Republican majority doing just that, the nation has taken yet another step toward the chaos that autocrats thrive on. In a hopeful development, several Republicans, including Senator John McCain, Senator Mark Warner, and Congressman Tray Gowdy, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, have all denounced the memo as inaccurate, immaterial, and irrelevant - a "nothing-burger."

The Republican-led Intel Committee voted today to release the Democratic "Memo." After 5 days of review by the White House to determine whether or not to release the document, not surprisingly, Trump determined NOT to release the document.  The House could act to overturn that judgment, but with House Republicans acting more like lapdogs than a separate and equal branch of government, what do YOU think will happen?  We can only hope for "transparency" to prevail in the end.

STATE OF THE UNION:  THE GREAT LEADER AND DISSENT.

The US Constitution requires the President "annually" to provide to the Congress information on the state of the union.  As is the case in any Presidential State of the Union address, the speech before a Joint Session of Congress contains a broad variety of observations, credit-taking for successes, prescriptions for future policy recommendations, and comments on current events around the globe.
The Trump message was no different, but for at least two inclusions - one during the speech, and another in public comments the following day.

POINT ONE: President Trump called for a "house-cleaning" of the federal bureaucracy.  Trump called on the Congress to pass legislation to empower the executive branch and the cabinet to disrupt the federal civil service and "reward good workers" and remove federal employees who "undermine the public trust or fail the American people."  Hmmmmmm....   now, just who will make that judgment? Will this become a "deep state" removal of anyone not saluting Trump? Would that be Trump's "TREASON?"

POINT TWO:  Are we really seeing echo's of the "lock her up!" chants of the Trump 2016 Campaign?  In a speech delivered on the Monday after the State of the Union address, Trump charged that the Democrats were "traitors", "UN-american",and were "treasonous" in their behavior.  These are serious charges - TREASON!  And, what extreme offenses did the Democrats commit that rises to the level of TREASON?  Trump was unhappy that the Democrats in the Joint Session of Congress failed to stand and cheer the "great leader" for his "great success" in MAGA - Making America Great Again.  Like autocrats in the old Soviet Union, or in present-day North Korea, Trump is expecting everyone to bow down, genuflect, stand at attention, wildly cheer on cue, and prostrate themselves in his presence - Senators, House Members, Cabinet Officials, the Directors of the FBI, CIA, NSA, Generals, Admirals, federal employees, and citizens all.  Failure to worship at the Trump altar could result in a purge....  an unceremonious firing.....  or a charge of TREASON!  Sinclair Lewis' character, Doremus Jessup - the outspoken newspaper editor, arrested and jailed for treason for criticizing the President, would find these recent events a familiar echo of his time and circumstance.  Can it happen here?  Or, is it already happening here?  These are the elements of an American nightmare...

RESIST!  PERSIST!  INSIST!  MARCH ON!

Bobby J