--- title: Donald Trump and It Can't Happen Here: Read a 1935 Review description: Some say Donald Trump's election was predicted by the Sinclair Lewis novel 'It Cant Happen Here.' Read what TIME had to say about it in 1935 canonical: https://time.com/4574009/donald-trump-sinclair-lewis-it-cant-happen-here/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-16T23:45:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T01:51:56.175Z article:section: History og:title: People Are Saying This Book Predicted Donald Trump's Victory og:description: And here's what TIME said about it in 1935 og:url: https://time.com/4574009/donald-trump-sinclair-lewis-it-cant-happen-here/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76b18ec25cad1ea9/6988aed65f570f9777b23516/gettyimages-590677241.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Detroit Federal Theatre Units "It can't happen here". og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: People Are Saying This Book Predicted Donald Trump's Victory twitter:description: And here's what TIME said about it in 1935 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76b18ec25cad1ea9/6988aed65f570f9777b23516/gettyimages-590677241.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Book People Are Saying Predicted Donald Trump's Rise, as Reviewed in 1935  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Nov 16, 2016 11:45 PM UTC  Detroit Federal Theatre Unit of Michigan Works Progress Administration presents It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis. Detroit Federal Theatre Unit of Michigan Works Progress Administration presents It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis.Universal History Archive—Getty Images  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Nov 16, 2016 11:45 PM UTC A surprising novel is selling out at some retailers, _Money_ [reported](http://time.com/money/4573801/sinclair-lewis-it-cant-happen-here-amazon/) on Wednesday: Sinclair Lewis’ _It Can’t Happen Here_. The reason for the rush is that some [critics of President-elect Donald Trump say](http://www.salon.com/2015/09/29/it%5Freally%5Fcan%5Fhappen%5Fhere%5Fthe%5Fnovel%5Fthat%5Fforeshadowed%5Fdonald%5Ftrumps%5Fauthoritarian%5Fappeal/) that the circumstances of the real-estate mogul’s election are eerily similar to those portrayed in the 1935 novel by Lewis—who, at the time, was the only U.S. writer to have won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Written as two very different populists rose to power — Louisiana [Senator Huey Long](http://time.com/4020709/huey-long-anniversary/) in the U.S. and Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany — the semi-satirical novel imagines a Democratic U.S. Senator, Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip, appealing to nativists in order to successfully secure the party nomination over Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Windrip then wins the 1936 presidential election by railing against immigrants, the poor and the liberal media. A theatrical adaptation came out in 1936. “Readers of _It Can’t Happen Her_e who feel that almost anything can happen in the U.S. are likely to be convinced that it cannot happen in quite the way Author Lewis describes,” declared [TIME’s 1935 review of the book](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,847561,00.html), which went on to summarize the plot: --- > “” --- **_Read the full review, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Buzz & Antibuzz](http://time.com/vault/issue/1935-10-28/page/87/) Donald Trump and It Can't Happen Here: Read a 1935 Review ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4574009/donald-trump-sinclair-lewis-it-cant-happen-here/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4574009/donald-trump-sinclair-lewis-it-cant-happen-here/"},"headline":"The Book People Are Saying Predicted Donald Trump's Rise, as Reviewed in 1935","datePublished":"2016-11-16T23:45:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:51:56.175Z","description":"\"He claimed to be just a plain, simple, common man\"","url":"https://time.com/4574009/donald-trump-sinclair-lewis-it-cant-happen-here/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76b18ec25cad1ea9/6988aed65f570f9777b23516/gettyimages-590677241.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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