Renowned author Stephen King recently made waves by suggesting that former President Donald Trump’s selection of Senator JD Vance as his running mate for the 2024 election was influenced by the violent actions of his own supporters towards former Vice President Mike Pence.
In a scathing social media post shared widely on Wednesday, King, a vocal critic of Trump, criticized the Vance pick that Trump announced at this year’s Republican National Convention. Trump’s decision came shortly after surviving an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Through a post on X (formerly Twitter), King endorsed the notion that Vance only became Trump’s running mate due to the chants of “hang Mike Pence” by the former president’s supporters during the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021. The rift between Trump and Pence deepened when the former vice president refused to overturn President Joe Biden’s election win.
King’s views were conveyed through a manipulated image of a character from the TV show “Stranger Things” in the viral post, which garnered over 1 million views. The image featured the character holding a message on a dry erase board that highlighted the circumstances leading to Trump’s VP selection.
An acclaimed author of horror novels like “The Shining” and “Pet Sematary,” King often attracts attention with his social media criticisms of Trump and his policies.
Meanwhile, Pence has not publicly commented on Trump’s choice of Vance. However, he shared a post on X that criticized the state of the Republican Party during the ongoing convention, which Pence opted to skip this year.
Vance, known for his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” transitioned from a Trump critic to a staunch supporter after receiving a phone call from Trump asking him to be his running mate. He attributed his earlier reservations about Trump to media distortions and misinformation, expressing his admiration for Trump’s presidency.
Despite his past criticisms, Vance now describes his relationship with Trump as close, particularly after meeting him in 2021 and beginning his political career. This unexpected alliance has raised eyebrows in political circles.