Novelist, Hollywood producer, and left-wing Trump-basher Stephen King says he cannot understand why people continue to support former President Donald Trump, because he believes “most people are good,” and Trump is a “horrible person” who “engaged in criminal behavior.”
“I think that most people are good,” King said in a recent interview with the Sunday Times. “Most people will give you the shirt off their back.”
“I happen to think that Trump was a horrible president and is a horrible person,” he added. “I think he actually engaged in criminal behavior and, certainly, I felt that he was a sociopath who tried to overturn the American democracy not out of any political wish of his own but because he could not admit that he had lost.”
Therefore, King finds himself in a conundrum as he doesn’t understand how Americans can still support the 45th president given that he believes most people are good.
“I don’t really understand the people who continue to support [Trump],” the perplexed novelist said.
King — who has essentially accused Republicans who support Trump of being anti-American — also admitted to the Sunday Times that he believes a man “driving a pickup truck covered with Trump and NRA stickers” would likely help a stranger stranded on the side of the road in a rainstorm.
Republicans: When are you going to stop supporting Trump and start supporting America?
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) November 13, 2020
“I do understand that a guy driving a pickup truck covered with Trump and NRA stickers — you know, take my rifle when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers — would stop and pick up a stranger if he was in a rainstorm and say: ‘Where you going, buddy?'” he said.
“That guy might go out of his way to take him there because people as individuals are good,” King added. “I think sometimes when they get to be a political group that can be a problem.”
King also admitted that there is a “strong right wing” in the United States, and he doesn’t actually believe they are “fascists.”
“There is a strong right wing, a political right wing in America, and they have a megaphone in some of the media,” he said. “They’re not fascists but they’re hard right-wingers. They’re certainly climate change deniers, so that is a real problem.”
Elsewhere in the interview, King shared his opinion on social media, which he called a “poison pill” when it comes to issues such as questioning the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The author, however, also said that social media can be “wonderful” when it comes to other issues, and noted its role in galvanizing the summer 2020 riots over the death of George Floyd.
King, however, might need to practice what he preaches.
Last month, he used social media to spread fake news about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) when he tweeted a false claim that the governor signed a bill requiring Florida students and professors to register their political views with the state.
Stephen King just sent a comment: “I regret having posted the headline without being more confident the story was correct. Salon is usually more reliable. Twitter is a constant learning experience, and I will try to do better.”
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) July 8, 2022
King later publicly apologized for promulgating the fake news.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.