This Happened Here

Paul Street is an independent progressive policy researcher, award-winning journalist, historian, and speaker. He is the author of nine books, most recently Hollow Resistance: Obama, Trump, and the Politics of Appeasement. Street writes regularly for Counterpunch.

"Paul Street is one of the best social critics in the United States. His newest book, This Happened Here: Amerikaners, Neoliberals, and the Trumping of America is a fresh, critical, insightful and much needed analysis of the legacy of the Trump presidency and how Trumpism has morphed into an updated form of fascism. Street puts to rest the endless arguments claiming Trump is not a fascist and does so by drawing upon the resources of history, political theory, sociology, and the best type of investigative analysis. His writing is clear and lyrical throughout the book. His analysis of fascism in its post-Trump form and the Trump base is the best I have read. Street is a straight shooter and displays a courageousness and brilliance in the book that should be a model for every public intellectual in America, and a resource for every member of the public when it comes to holding truth to power. His interweaving of critique and hope collapses the false binary of either despair or denial occupying much of the debate about fascist politics. The book is an absolute necessary treasure for anyone concerned about the threats now facing the ideal and promise of American democracy. Give this book to all your friends and hope that every teacher in America assigns it to their students."Henry A. Giroux, McMaster University"As the left’s foremost political historian today, Paul Street has been ringing the alarm bell against the rising threat of American fascism for years. His work is sorely needed in a time of mass denialism, when tens of millions of Americans have convinced themselves that fascism can never 'happen here,' despite rising rightwing extremism and the threat it poses to the republic. It’s no exaggeration to say that this is one of the most important works on fascism written in modern times. It provides a comprehensive guide for understanding fascism as a concept, and its rise in modern America as related to the politics of the Trumpian right and its enablers across the ideological spectrum. This book is a must read for anyone concerned with the future of American politics and democracy." Anthony DiMaggio, Author of Rising Fascism in America

• Introduction: “The Hell it Can’t”; 1. One Night of Dancing, 77 Days of Fear and Death; 2. The Fascist Wolf Defined and Foretold; 3. A Fascist in the White House, 2017–21; 4. The Anatomy of Fascism Denial; 5. Amerikaners and Trumpenvolk; 6. America Was Never Great: On “The Soul of This Nation”; 7. De-Trumping America; Afterword: A Sleepwalking Interregnum?