By Steve Newton
Stephen King is not only one of my fave alltime writers–right up there with Richard Matheson, Robert Bloch, and Joe R. Lansdale–he’s also a fun guy to follow on Twitter.
And lately he’s been cleverly putting the boots to Republican frontrunner Donald Trump–who King currently refers to as He Who Must Not Be Named–in 140 characters or less.
Like a couple of days ago Steve-O tweeted: “Populist demagogues like He Who Must Not Be Named aren’t a new thing; see THE DEAD ZONE, published 37 years ago.”
Now, The Dead Zone is one of my fave alltime King novels–right up there with The Stand, Misery, and Carrie–so I know that the author is referring to Dead Zone villain Greg Stillson, a dangerous politician whose angry rhetoric incites the American populace to flock to him in huge numbers.
Three minutes after that tweet King sent out another one: “In the film take on DEAD ZONE, Martin Sheen plays He Who Must Not Be Named…”
Now, I’ve seen the The Dead Zone a bunch of times. It’s one of my fave alltime King movies–right up there with Misery, Carrie, and The Shining–so I know how closely Sheen’s smarmy portrayal of fear-mongering phony Stillson resembles He Who Must Not Be Named.
In The Dead Zone, the fate of the entire human race hinges on the election of one power-mad, egomaniacal individual:
Truth may be stranger than fiction, but let’s hope it isn’t scarier too.
Well, how about Mr. Trump and that crying baby in Virginia?
The difference between Stillson and Trump is that when Stillson used an infant as a human shield, it ended his career. I’m not so sure even that would deter Trump supporters.