Donald Trump horrifies the king of horror

It just keeps getting better and better. Now, Stephen King, of whom I’m a huge fan, has joined hundreds of US writers in denouncing Donald Trump. King, one of the most popular authors of our time and described by the Telegraph as someone who “knows a thing or two about monsters”, has tweeted his dismay at the prospect of American voters giving an “asshole” who is clueless about foreign policy nuclear launch codes.

King is often described as “dark”. His books are full of pessimism, human fallibility, the often-irresistible power of evil, and other such bleak themes. When a man so dark in imagination becomes so gloomy in real life, we should all take note. Well, King has made sure everyone takes note, whether they like his message or not.

“That anyone in America would even consider voting for this rabid coyote leaves me speechless,” @StephenKing tweeted. The line went viral, as did this follow-up: “How’s this for a Trump campaign slogan: IF YOU’RE WHITE, YOU’RE ALRIGHT! ANY OTHER HUE, I DON’T TRUST YOU.”

As I have written before, the Trump saga is showcasing the best and the worst of America – or American democracy, to be precise.

The freedom of speech over there is something to cherish. 

More tricky to laud, however, is the fact that voters must clench their teeth and live with an “asshole” if he is handed a mandate at the election.

There are, of course, many types of “asshole” – from those who know nothing about foreign policy and leave office quietly after four years, to those who pose a serious threat to world peace and refuse to depart without a bang.

For King, Trump is in the latter category. In another tweet, the Master of Horror and creator of doomsday scenarios, said: “Here’s an idea! Let’s turn America’s nukes over to a bad-tempered asshole with no knowledge of foreign policy. What could go wrong?”

Hillary Clinton, who will vie for the presidency under the Democrat banner, may pick that up. Which will confirm what has been bothering me. Is US democracy, as noble as it’s often proclaimed, toying with the security or wellbeing of Planet Earth?

Let’s recap. American democracy has been responsible for the dropping of atomic bombs that flattened Japanese cities, the invasion of an Arab country under the pretense of eradicating weapons of mass destruction which were never found, and a prolonged and devastating war in Vietnam – to name just a few. Those events occurred, mind you, under presidents considered far more mentally stable than Trump.

The open letter, addressed to the American people and signed by King and more than 600 other American writers, made no mention of an impending apocalypse. But the message it did contain has angered Trump’s supporters just as much, if not more. The Trump phenomenon, it said, warrants reasonable resistance. “The rise of a political candidate who deliberately appeals to the basest and most violent elements in society, who encourages aggression among his followers, shouts down opponents, intimidates dissenters and denigrates women and minorities, demands, from each of us, an immediate and forceful response,” the writers stated.

The opposition is unprecedented, but then so is Trump. Well-know figures have proclaimed him a jerk, a con-artist, a recruiter for Islamic State, a phoney, a plain idiot, big liar, a phenomenal hypocrite, a flip-flop master, and the biggest threat to humanity. But millions of Americans support him, and that’s a big deal.

If Hillary Clinton knocks him out later this year, as most pollsters predict, American democracy will heave a sigh of relief. If instead he gets elected, there are two ways to look at it. Some will spin it as the beauty of American politics, which can whitewash a “monster” and allow him to rule. Others will stop seeing democracy as the wisdom of the crowd and begin castigating it as the stupidity of the herd.

For many people, the problem is that if you defend democracy, you also must defend Trump. That is an almost-impossible balancing act, since it’s extremely hard to do both without being a hypocrite or a big liar yourself. Right now, fear of Trump is being expressed in jokes, since he is still a long way from the White House. The real “terror” hasn’t even begun to grip.

According to King, there are three types of terror. “The first is when the lights go out and something green and slimy splatters against your arm. The second is when the lights go out and something with claws grabs you by the arm. The last and worst one is when the lights go out and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel its breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there’s nothing there…”

If I could ask King one question, it would be: What stage of terror are you at right now?