Stephen King’s use of Republicans’ words against Donald Trump causes major waves on the Internet

Author Stephen King’s use of Republican Paul Ryan’s words in a social media post on Saturday that he would not vote for former President Donald Trump in this year’s election has caused a stir on the Internet.

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, will face Vice President Kamala Harris in November, who became the Democratic nominee after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on July 21.

King, a vocal Trump critic, has issued several warnings about the former president on social media, having previously called him a “dangerous” and “terrible” person and president.

In his latest post on X (formerly Twitter), the author used the words of former House Speaker Ryan that he would not vote for Trump.

“Republican Paul Ryan, former Speaker of the House, says he will not vote for Donald Trump. ‘Character means too much to me,'” King wrote Saturday night.

The post has since received over 257,000 views and over 8,300 likes, with over 1,200 reposts as of Sunday morning.

Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican who led the House from 2015 to 2019, has long had a rocky relationship with the former president, even though they worked closely together during the first two years of the Trump administration. Ryan is one of several Republicans who have pushed for the GOP to distance itself from Trump in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, even though Trump remains popular among large swathes of Republican voters.

Newsweek Trump’s campaign team asked for comment via email.

As this year’s election approached, Ryan said in May that he would not vote for Trump and would instead field a Republican candidate, according to Yahoo Finance.

“Character is too important to me,” he told Yahoo Finance at the Milken Institute Global Conference. “And this job requires a kind of character that he doesn’t have.”

Trump and Ryan had previously clashed after Ryan spoke out against the former president after the end of his presidency. Specifically, the issue was a mob of Trump supporters who rioted outside the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in a vain attempt to prevent Congress from confirming Biden’s victory in the Electoral College. Ryan also criticized members of his party who “did not have the courage to impeach Trump” after the riot.

Trump, meanwhile, has labeled Ryan a “RINO,” the acronym for “Republican in Name Only,” for opposing his leadership. Last year, Ryan said that while he could be considered a “RINO” in the current GOP, he remains conservative on important issues.

“In my day, a ‘RINO’ was someone who was more moderate than conservative. I’m a conservative. Today, a ‘RINO’ is the loyalty you pledge to Donald Trump. I think that’s very unlikely,” he said.

Saturday’s post is the latest attack by King, who joined the Democratic Party in 1970, to attack the former president.

Following the ABC News debate between Harris and Trump earlier this month, King’s X-post went viral in which he called the former president “completely insane.”

In another post about the debate, the author wrote: “Politics aside, America has seen a man who has no business being anywhere near the levers of power. Simply put, he’s crazy.”