When Twitter invented the blocking function it probably did not envisage it would be used and abused by the president of the United States. In case it has passed you by, Donald Trump has become famed for hitting the “block” button on folk who take aim at his presidency.
Stephen King is just one of a long list of notable actors, authors, and activists who President Trump has decided to block on the social media site.
But the best-selling horror author, who penned The Shining and Carrie, has decided not to take Mr Trump’s ill feeling towards him lying down. King, who has been a steadfast critic of the president, has sought revenge on the mogul-turned-politico.
“Donald Trump blocked me on Twitter. I am hereby blocking him from seeing It or Mr. Mercedes. No clowns for you, Donald. Go float yourself,” he said.
The post, which has been shared over 36 thousand times on Twitter, is a reference to the TV adaptation of his detective book Mr. Mercedes which is currently airing on US network Audience and his forthcoming film It.
Mr. Mercedes might be King’s 62nd novel but he calls it his first hard-boiled detective book. Hardboiled fiction being a hardy, unsentimental style of American crime writing whose quintessential protagonist is a tough-talking, streetwise detective who observes the violence of organised crime that thrived during Prohibition.
Whereas It is an American horror film about a group of bullied kids with problematic family lives who come together when a monster, taking the appearance of a clown, begins hunting children. It is based on King’s bestselling 1986 novel of the same name and comes out on 8 September.
While it is not immediately clear how King would practically stop President Trump from viewing either it is the symbolism which counts.
King, who has 3.67 million followers, was blocked by Mr Trump on Twitter back in June.
“Trump has blocked me from reading his tweets. I may have to kill myself,” he said at the time.
The acclaimed author, whose books have sold more than 350 million copies, has taken aim at Mr Trump on almost countless occasions.
He called for the world leader to be impeached after he sacked FBI director James Comey, calling the US leader “a remarkable combination of unhinged and dumb as dirt,” and saying “Time to start talking impeachment. Really. Enough is enough.”
The prolific author has also argued Mr Trump’s access to nuclear weapons is “worse than any story” he has written, saying “Trump’s tweets in his first hundred days draw a pretty clear portrait: he’s an almost textbook case of narcissistic personality disorder”.
He added: “That this guy has his finger on the nuclear trigger is worse than any horror story I ever wrote.”
