Stephen King: Donald Trump Is A Horror Story — And Other Insults From The King Of Horror To The Republican Candidate
Stephen King’s opinion on Donald Trump has been pretty clear throughout this election. He has joked that the Republican nominee is “actually Cthulhu,” tossed a “shame on you” to a certain subset of Trump voters, and referred to the candidate as “a big ole sulky baby.”
Of course, a lot of people — those with readerships to compare to that of Mr. King, and those without — have expressed similar opinions. However, this time King is speaking from a place of his own expertise. After all, this is the king of horror calling Donald Trump a horror story.
My newest horror story: Once upon a time there was a man named Donald Trump, and he ran for president. Some people wanted him to win.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) October 21, 2016
In honor of this, how often does someone actually get labeled as a horror story himself by someone who knows better than any American what one looks like? Here are a dozen other times Stephen King shot down Donald Trump with humor, eloquence, and sincerity.
In June of 2015, Donald Trump announced his run for President of the United States in a speech that would be remembered for, among other things, his characterization of immigrants to the U.S. from Mexico as rapists, drug dealers, and criminals.
In the months immediately following, King threw out a few ideas for slogans the Trump campaign could use. In fewer than 140 characters each, he conveyed that Trump is deceiving his supporters, and that there is an issue of racial bias within the campaign and its support.
Bumper sticker idea: I'M ONE OF TRUMP'S CHUMPS. Jesus, how do I come up with these? Just lucky I guess.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) July 14, 2015
How's this for a Trump campaign slogan: IF YOU'RE WHITE, YOU'RE ALL RIGHT! ANY OTHER HUE, I DON'T TRUST YOU.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) August 5, 2015
Later, he joked, presumably, that Donald Trump is actually Cthulu, H. P. Lovecraft’s famous tentacled and malevolent deity, the very sight of whom destroys one’s sanity.
Breaking News: Reliable sources reveal that Donald Trump is actually Cthulu. The absurd hairdo isn't absurd at all. It hides the tentacles.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) September 12, 2016
Unfortunately, Cthulhu himself was insulted by Stephen King’s comparison.
Sorry, Stephen, you couldn't be more wrong. That clown has nothing on me. https://t.co/LHXy2IBln8
— Cthulhu 2024 (@cthulhu4america) September 12, 2016
The denial didn’t dissuade the great writer.
Reliable sources on Cthulu's denail he is Trump: "Well, it's what he WOULD say, isn't it?"
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) September 15, 2016
Then there were the tweets where King modified an older literary quote to fit Donald Trump. King told NPR in 2013 that the “bounced lower” quote was his favorite teaser from a pulp paperback cover he saw as a kid.
To slightly revise an old 1950s paperback cover: "Trump has hit the gutter…and bounced lower."
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) October 16, 2016
Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were Donald Trump? But I repeat myself. (Apologies to Mark Twain)
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) October 14, 2016
He has also compared the Republican nominee to a country song.
Trump's taxes made me think of a Travis Tritt song that goes, "The fat man's busy dancing while the poor man pays the band."
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) October 5, 2016
No one gets to the root of local dialect and the colorful sayings that pop up in various regions like King, and he doesn’t miss when he draws out a southern colloquialism to discuss support of Donald Trump in Texas.
Texas may go for Trump, but they have a saying for guys like him: "He's so low, he could put on a top-hat and crawl under a rattlesnake."
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) September 25, 2016
Sometimes, King has simply offered a direct insult, rather than elaborate humor or literary brilliance. Even a brilliant novelist can just express disapproval and dislike in a straightforward classic dis, right? Clearly, he can.
Trump looks like a big ole sulky baby. Do we need a big ole sulky baby as President?
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) October 10, 2016
Trump is up past his bedtime.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) October 10, 2016
Other times, he has expressed what appears to be sincere sorrow at the success of someone whose campaign has been peppered with accusations of racial bias, sexual assault, encouragement of physical assault of protesters, and general xenophobia and ethnocentrism. He has declared that men who support Donald Trump should consider the experiences of women in their lives who have faced some of the offenses Trump is alleged to have committed.
The more I read about and listen to Donald Trump, the more appalled I am. Not as a Democrat; as a human being. A genuinely nasty man.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) October 2, 2016
If you're a man whose wife or daughters have been sexually harassed, and you're still planning to vote for Donald Trump, shame on you.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) October 17, 2016
Then there was the tweet in which King also promoted another author from his state, Tim Sample, while showing off a piece of political memorabilia that satirizes the classic Barry Goldwater campaign slogan, “In your heart, you know he’s right.”
My favorite Trump button. Sent to me by Maine humorist Tim Sample. pic.twitter.com/4iXgtAg7ay
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) September 27, 2016
Notably, Goldwater’s campaign slogan was identically satirized during his run, and the notion to re-use the mocking slogan probably arises from the Clinton campaign’s reprisal of an anti-Goldwater ad. Mother Jones compares the two videos here along with a script mirroring the original. The Clinton campaign even used the same actor.
Could Stephen King actually write Donald Trump into a horror story for publication? If he ever does decide to, it’s clear he has collected plenty of material to work with.
[Featured Image by Joe Raedle/Getty Images]