It is increasingly becoming too hard to deny that President Donald Trump has kickstarted the beginning of the end for America. He has taken a chainsaw to the country’s democracy, its economy, and the citizens’ ability to afford it all. The worst part? He is still not done. But while you might be at a loss for words to call out the POTUS, Stephen King, as usual, spoke for all of us when he dissed Trump and his so-called strategies in a few words.

After the massive tariffs — based on unsubstantiated and miscalculated data — he imposed on many countries, including China, which got 54% tariffs. In response, China levied 34% tariffs on U.S. import goods — a move that has angered Trump, who has threatened to add an additional 50% tariff to the already eye-watering amount by midnight on April 8, which would escalate the total tariffs on the nation to 104%. 

Trump has also warned China that if it doesn’t roll back its decision, he will be terminating all future meetings with them regarding negotiations over the tariffs, while those with other nations will move forward as planned. In short, he is dead set on igniting a trade war whose consequences will be felt across the globe.

Now, Trump’s ers and fellow Republicans lack the backbone needed to counter his drastic and senseless step — something Barack Obama idly questioned recently — but nothing is stopping Stephen King from calling a spade a spade.

Of course, the residents of MAGA land refused to see the truth (or wisdom) of his words as they countered how Trump’s tariffs are pressure tactics that would bring jobs to America and protect the economy. It is becoming hard to deny that this refusal or boastful inability to see the truth and logic of a situation is what won Trump the presidential title once again. 

Is Donald Trump ready to negotiate with China?

Yes, but only if China reaches out to make a deal. Apparently, the president is currently functioning under the delusion that China wants to appease him “badly” and just doesn’t know how to begin. So, he has been waiting for their call since he is sure that “it will happen” — a belief that he has shared with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

And if that call doesn’t come? Then, the 104% tariffs go into effect. Even if we forget Bejing’s ominous promise of fighting Trump “to the end,” there are other consequences to worry about, like higher consumer prices and the hit international economic stability will be taking as a result of the world’s two largest economies bickering over tariffs.

Tesla used to be the brand you’d name-drop to feel futuristic and eco-conscious at the same time. Now, thanks to Elon Musk’s rollercoaster of ketamine-driven chaos, the shine is wearing off — and Stephen King isn’t holding back in pointing out just how far it’s fallen.

King doesn’t just write about haunted hotels and killer clowns. These days, he’s also busy haunting Elon Musk’s timeline with biting commentary and takedowns. The writer recently shared a poster that’s been making the rounds in Bethnal Green, London, and it’s… well, let’s just say it’s not Tesla-approved. The poster in question takes a not-so-subtle jab at Musk and his brand, reimagining Tesla as “The Swasticar.” Below the Tesla logo, the poster reads: “Goes from 0 to 1939 in 3 seconds.” Just to hammer the point home, the poster features Musk inside a Tesla, seemingly performing what looks like a Nazi salute.

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— Stephen King (@stephenking.bsky.social) February 25, 2025 at 7:59 PM

This is satire turned up to eleven — biting and utterly unkind. But, as they say, satire often holds a mirror up to reality. And in this case, it reflects the growing unease with Musk’s antics, particularly his perceived flirtation with far-right ideologies.

The poster’s message ties back to an infamous moment during Donald Trump’s inauguration, where Musk was accused of making a “Nazi-style” salute while giving a speech. Whether it was an intentional gesture (hey, you can’t get it wrong twice), the image stuck, and Musk has never quite shaken it off. Europe, in particular, is not amused. Tesla’s sales in Europe have been plummeting. In January alone, Tesla sold a measly 9,945 cars across Europe — a staggering 45% drop from the 18,161 units sold in the same month last year. When you break it down into individual countries, the story only gets worse.

In , Tesla sales are down an eye-watering 63%. — home to some of the world’s most discerning car buyers and a fiercely competitive automotive industry — isn’t faring much better, with Tesla sales nosediving by 59%. Meanwhile, in Sweden, Tesla sales have dropped by 44%. Even Norway, Tesla’s longtime stronghold, saw sales fall by 38%. Poland’s decline might seem less dramatic at 12%, but the symbolism is far more potent. Poland’s deep and painful history with Nazi occupation has made the country particularly sensitive to anything that even remotely smells like far-right ideology. When Musk appeared at an AfD rally in and was accused of aligning with far-right politics, it was a cultural dagger. Poland’s tourism minister,  Sławomir Nitras, outright called for a Tesla boycott, urging citizens to abandon the brand entirely.

For a brand that built its empire on being the trailblazer of the green revolution, this kind of backlash is catastrophic. If Tesla loses Europe, it loses its status as a global leader in sustainable innovation. Meanwhile, competition in the EV market is fiercer than ever. Brands like Polestar, Volkswagen, and even legacy automakers like BMW and Mercedes-Benz are stepping up their electric game with vehicles that are not just comparable to Tesla, but in some cases, superior. These companies are savvier and less bogged down by the antics of a CEO who seems more interested in stirring up controversy.

As King’s post and the “Swasticar” poster demonstrate, the court of public opinion is turning against Musk. As for the It author, he’s doing what he does best: telling stories that make us uncomfortable. And in this case, the story he’s telling is one of backlash and the slow unraveling of a tech empire. While King has made it clear that Musk isn’t exactly his favorite person, he’s also doing double duty, sparing some witty thoughts for his followers over on Bluesky.

Washington is positively aflutter with news that Donald Trump has appointed Dan Bongino within the FBI, but his past exchange with Stephen King has also got people talking.

In case you missed it, Donald Trump recently named Bongino — a far-right podcaster who has never served in the bureau — as the next deputy director of the FBI. Bongino is a former New York police officer and Secret Service agent, and he once provided security to Presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama. Beyond that, though, he is far better known as conservative political commentator who vocally ed Trump’s false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

I thought Don Bongino being appointed as deputy director of the FBI was a joke. A podcaster being his only qualification. We have to laugh. pic.twitter.com/7Bx0yuCARz

— Latino Loverboy (@y2kRawr) February 24, 2025

Bongino will serve as the deputy director of the law enforcement agency under newly confirmed director Kash Patel, who was already a red flag appointment given his belief in the so-called “deep state.” Of course, we know by now that those in Trump’s cabinet take the word “qualified” as more of a suggestion, since it’s composed of everyone from Fox News hosts to anti-vaxxers, television doctors and, perhaps most bizarrely, a WWE exec. 

Naturally, Trump’s eyebrow-raising choice for the FBI’s deputy director launched an almost immediate search into Bongino’s past, including a terse tit-for-tat he engaged in with King back in 2023. At that time, the author hadn’t yet departed from social media platform X (he’s back now!), and it was still his go-to site for searing takedowns of Trump and those in his orbit, which is where Bongino comes in. 

Biden is a disgrace to humankind. An embarrassment to the human race in every respect.

— Dan Bongino (@dbongino) May 10, 2023

The Trump loyalist he is, Bongino wrote on X that former president Joe Biden “is a disgrace to humankind” and “an embarrassment to the human race in every respect.” Not missing a beat, King quickly swooped in to deservedly bring Bongino down a few notches, since there’s certainly no deficit of straight male podcast hosts. “But he’s got a real job,” King replied in reference to Biden, “not a podcast.” 

Going toe-to-toe with a world-renowned author is no small feat, which is probably why Bongino resorted to playground insults in his response. “Millions of listeners a day on a podcast while you’re watching porn in your momma’s basement yearning for the days that people actually gave a s*** about your dumb a***,” Bongino wrote, possessing the vocabulary level of his boss. 

Seriously, I half-expected the word “bigly” to show up somewhere in there, but Bongino instead concluded the message by telling King, who has a net worth of $500 million, to “get a job, loser.” In the wake of Bongino’s FBI appointment, King appears to have deleted his half of the X exchange, but his return to the platform earlier this month has still delivered the much-needed dose of reality we all need in these times. 

Marking his return, King fired off a searing message to Trump, describing him as “Putin-loving” and “traitorous” and adding to a long string of pointed X posts about the president and his bestie Elon Musk. Throughout the years, King has used the billionaire’s platform to call out Musk’s lies, remind us that Trump is a felon, and describe the President as a “dumpster fire.”

It clearly fell on deaf ears, since Trump’s appointment of Bongino is yet another sign that his brazenness has gone unchecked. What’s next, Kanye West for The National Endowment for the Arts? Actually, I shouldn’t have even put that into the universe.

At long last, the king of Twitter (the use of the old name is intentional) has returned, with Stephen King making his grand entrance back to the platform with some expected (and deserved) words for Donald Trump and Elon Musk. 

Of course, there was a time when such commentary from the author was commonplace, but his departure from X in the wake of Trump’s presidential victory left our timelines relatively sparse (and criminally un-entertaining). Now, he’s back with a vengeance, and what better way to mark his arrival than with a searing criticism of his two most common enemies. Before he got to that, however, King started things off playfully, writing to his nearly seven million followers on his newly reinstated X page; “I’m baaaack! Did you miss me?”

I’m baaaack! Did you miss me?

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) February 20, 2025

The answer is a resounding YES! Since our collective X feeds have been in dire need of King’s consistent (and often hilarious) ability to keep the president and his loyalists in check. And that’s exactly what he did, catching up for lost time with an all-encoming takedown of Trump and his bestie, FLOTUS and partner in crime. “Just wanted to say that Trump is a traitorous, Putin-loving dips***!” King wrote, clearly relishing in his newfound ability to shout into the Musk-owned void. Speaking of such, don’t think for a second that King forgot to name-drop the billionaire. 

“Goes double for Elon!” he added, reviving a feud with Musk that stretches back to 2023. Oh, we’re so back, baby! Of course, the actual content of King’s post is just as worthwhile as his post-Blue Sky return, with the author obviously addressing Trump’s seeming kinship with the Russian President in recent weeks. While he has long had an affinity for the dictator, Trump’s second term has seen him forge even closer ties with Putin, to the point where he this week wrongly accused Ukraine of starting the conflict with Russia. 

Yep, Trump is siding with the invader, and even labelled Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a “dictator” in a post on Truth Social. It’s times like these when we critically need a voice like King’s, to remind us that it isn’t us who is going mad, it’s the President of the United States. In of why Musk was also called out in King’s X post… well, where do I begin? Shall I start with the terrifyingly familiar hand gesture at the inauguration? Or perhaps his threat to jail of the free press? 

Or even the drastic overreach of his DOGE program, which has gone after critical government agencies and has given him access to sensitive data and trillions of dollars? While it all might feel rather dire, there’s at least a familiarity in King’s return to Twitter, which has long been the site of his much-needed commentary on both Trump and Musk. In November, he led the charge in branding the billionaire FLOTUS, and served as a fact-checker for the umpteenth lies told by the Tesla owner. 

I'm leaving Twitter. Tried to stay, but the atmosphere has just become too toxic. Follow me on Threads, if you like.

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) November 14, 2024

Before that, he rightfully took to X to pose questions around Trump’s cognitive abilities, as well as lament the current state of democracy. While he wasn’t the only notable name to flock to Blue Sky amid Musk’s ascendance — ing the likes of Mark Hamill and George Takei — we sure are glad that the King is back!

When Donald Trump sauntered into the election season, his pitch was simple: “I’ll fix everything.”

It’s the same greatest hits album MAGA’s been playing on repeat since 2016. But while Trump’s fan club is still busy chanting “Make America Great Again,” the guy’s out here doing the opposite of what they’d expect. He’s apparently decided to make your life a tad more miserable by… fighting to increase your bank fees. That’s his latest flex.

Now, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, is sounding the alarm.

I am not making this up: Republicans have introduced legislation… to increase your bank fees.

— Pete Buttigieg (@petebuttigieg.bsky.social) February 18, 2025 at 8:31 PM

Reportedly, Republicans are trying to overturn a key Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule that would protect consumers from predatory overdraft fees. The CFPB rule, which caps overdraft fees at $5, was designed to stop banks from scamming their customers to maximize profit. The CFPB estimated that this cap could save Americans $5 billion a year. However, saving Americans money is a bridge too far for Trump. House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (R-AR) and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) have introduced Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions aimed at overturning the CFPB’s overdraft fee cap. If the CRA resolution es, it would effectively nullify the CFPB’s overdraft fee cap.

Meanwhile, Americans are already dealing with record-high costs of living and stagnant wages. Instead of offering solutions, Trump and his team are working to make things even harder. Even though his entire brand is built on the idea that he’s “for the people,” are you really “for the people” if your policies keep punching them in the gut? Speaking of gut punches, Stephen King took to social media to ask a simple question to the MAGA:

Drudge Report dubs the Prez Comrade Trumpski. MAGA, is that what you voted for? A coward bowing to Putin ?

— Stephen King (@stephenking.bsky.social) February 18, 2025 at 10:25 PM

The man who gave us It and The Shining now presents a horror story that’s all too real. For a long time, Vladimir Putin has been working to restore Russia’s superpower status. Thanks to Trump, Putin’s closer to his goal than ever. Trump has repeatedly handed Putin exactly what he wanted, often without asking for anything in return.

Take Ukraine, for example. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine started in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea. Since then, Ukraine has been fighting to protect its sovereignty, relying heavily on Western . But Trump? Instead of standing firm alongside Ukraine, he sent mixed signals at every turn. His istration delayed military aid to Ukraine — aid that had already been approved — while Trump himself pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to dig up dirt on Joe Biden, using that aid as leverage. At one point, Trump publicly questioned why the U.S. was even ing Ukraine at all.

Shrugging off one of America’s closest allies in Europe while cozying up to Putin sent a dangerous message. It told the world, loud and clear, that the U.S. under Trump wasn’t all that interested in defending democracy or standing up to authoritarian bullies.

Furthermore, Trump’s foreign policy moves have consistently benefited Russia. He has pushed for Russia to be reinstated into the G7, despite the fact that they were kicked out for invading Ukraine. He has openly questioned the value of NATO, the very alliance designed to counter Russian aggression, floating the idea of withdrawing the U.S. from it entirely. Now, as talks between the U.S. and Russia resume, Ukraine isn’t even at the table. Zelenskyy has called this exclusion a “surprise.” The end result of all this? Putin didn’t have to make a single concession. If you’re a dictator looking to expand your territory, just wait for the U.S. to blink.

So here’s the question. How does MAGA reconcile its love for Trump with his actions? Is this really what they signed up for? Did they vote for making their lives expensive and a president who bows to Putin? Both Buttigieg and King are trying to wake people up.

Just when you thought Elon Musk’s political reach wouldn’t stretch further, the billionaire has recruited seven young techies for DOGE, but not without swift rebuke from Stephen King. 

For context, Musk tapped seven tech industry workers aged between 19 to 25 years old to the Department of Government Efficiency, the cost-cutting government arm he co-leads with Vivek Ramaswamy. Despite having little to no experience working in politics, the young group has been tasked with helping DOGE’s goal of cutting trillions from the federal government. 

Yep, seven tech nerds are using their Dorito-stained fingers to control trillions of dollars, but their influence reportedly extends beyond DOGE. According to WIRED, one of these workers, 25-year-old Marko Elez, was granted access to the systems of the Treasury Department responsible for dispersing almost all payments made by the federal government. If it sounds like Musk is trying seize control of the entire government, well…if the shoe fits, I guess?

Thankfully, we have voices like King to call out all these shady Musk maneuvers. The author, whose long-running takedowns of Trump should be hung in the Louvre, took to Blue Sky to voice his concerns. “Get them out of government,” he wrote alongside an image of the seven new DOGE workers, while reminding us that most of them are “not old enough to be elected to anything.” 

King also said he suspects the group — which names Elez alongside Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger and Ethan Shaotran — are “part of Musk’s gaming posse.” Musk delivered the comments in response to a Blue Sky post which compared Musk’s hiring of the techies to the “2016 Cambridge Analytics” scandal, which similarly worked in Trump’s favor. 

The same post also describes the DOGE hires as “boy hackers,” again reiterating how they shouldn’t be anywhere near the highly sensitive and critical services of high office. King wasn’t the only one to criticize the unexpected hires, with Chuck Schumer declaring that “an unelected shadow government is conducting a hostile takeover of the federal government.” 

For her part, Elizabeth Warren said the government is being handed over “to an unelected billionaire and an unknown number of his unqualified flunkies.” In any case, it’s simply the latest maneuver that has seen Musk — who, it’s worth reiterating, was not elected — overstep his political power. Earlier this week, Trump granted the billionaire the elevated status of ‘special government employee,’ which not only sounds like something Melania should take note of, but allows Musk to avoid the disclosure rules about conflicts of interest and finances that apply to regular government employees.

In addition to his attack on the Treasury, Musk also has it out for USAID, and is working to dismantle it. It was only last month that Musk delivered a Nazi salute, and now he’s a special government employee whose recruiting groups of flunkies for God knows what. With all that, I’m convinced that, years from now, Ryan Murphy or HBO will order a miniseries dramatizing the first few weeks of Trump’s second term. Only, unlike that projection, we can’t turn this one off.

Stephen King has offered yet another one of his recommended viewing or reading picks, this time showering praise on the latest novel from Big Little Lies author, Liane Moriarty. 

King — who was one of multiple celebrities to depart from Elon Musk’s X amid his well-deserved gripes with both its owner and his presidential bestie — took to the new locale of Blue Sky to offer followers the reading recommendation. The It author said Moriarty’s latest, titled Here One Moment, has an “irresistible” premise while offering a logline of his own. “A woman on a flight from Hobart to Sydney begins predicting the age and manner of death of her fellow engers,” King surmised, painting a somewhat bleak portrait that might feel right at home in his own horror-filled oeuvre. 

If that synopsis tickles your fancy, know that plenty of fellow bookworms have been equally excited by Here One Moment since its release in April of this year. The novel — which marks the Australian author’s tenth overall and fourth since 2014’s Big Little Lies — has been met with widespread praise from readers and critics, and King seems to be singing a similar tune. “Beautifully written, this propulsive novel has a serious theme,” King wrote of Here One Moment, before suggesting that the book “could be a great Xmas present for that special someone.” 

It’s not the first time Moriarty has received praise from the Carrie author, who said Big Little Lies — the novel adapted into the equally acclaimed HBO series starring Reese Witherspoon — was “a hell of a book” and described it as “funny and scary.” 

More broadly, King’s unfortunately defunct X page, when not aimed squarely at Donald Trump, was filled with book recommendations from other authors, including Joe Hill’s Full Throttle, Peter Straub’s Koko and Sharon Kitchens’ Stephen King’s Maine: A History & Guide, though he was a little less complimentary of the Twilight franchise and Harry Potter author JK Rowling. Beyond the page, King has shared his thoughts on everything from Netflix’s ​​It’s What’s Inside to Jeremy Saulnier’s Rebel Ridge and the Will Smith-starring Bad Boys: Ride or Die.

The fact that King finds time to read is irable in itself (I’m not even half as busy as him and I’ve only managed a chapter of my current book), since the author just came off the press tour for The Life of Chuck, the Tom Hiddleston-starring adaptation of his 2020 short story of the same name. Elsewhere, it looks like we’ve got a Carrie television series adaptation in the works, as well as director Edgar Wright’s take on The Running Man and The Monkey directed by Osgood Perkins. 

Moriarty has an equally busy schedule, having written the source material for the third season of Big Little Lies. In October, Nicole Kidman — who stars opposite Witherspoon in the TV adaptation — said Moriarty is “delivering the book” which will inform season three, adding that the installment is “in good shape.” Big Little Lies isn’t the only Moriarty novel to make it to the screen, with both Apples Never Fall and Nine Perfect Strangers getting the TV treatment with star-studded casts. Meanwhile, on King’s broader and burgeoning Blue Sky feed, the author has weighed in on gun control and Trump’s cabinet picks for his second istration.

Stephen King may ditched the hellscape that is Elon Musk’s X, but his departure hasn’t silenced his voice. 

The master of horror has never been one to mince words, and his stories have always been a reflection of the darkest corners of our society. But he knows the real horror show is happening right here in the daylight. So, when he speaks out about the recent school shooting in Wisconsin, it’s clear that this is a nightmare even the king of horror struggles to comprehend.

On Monday, a 15-year-old student rolled up to Abundant Life Christian School in Wisconsin and unleashed a storm of bullets, shattering the illusion of safety in a sacred space of learning. Two dead, several injured. And the shooter? Also dead. It’s a script that’s become all too familiar, repeating like a broken record with blood on the needle. In the wake of this tragedy, King took to Bluesky, his new social media haven, to share his thoughts. 

I’m a gun owner, and I respect the rights of responsible gun owners. That said, the second amendment will continue to be watered with the blood of children until the laws change.

— Stephen King (@stephenking.bsky.social) December 17, 2024 at 7:10 AM

As a gun owner himself, he acknowledged the rights of responsible gun owners but made it crystal clear that “the second amendment will continue to be watered with the blood of children until the laws change.”

King’s words ring painfully true. The U.S. is the only developed nation where school shootings have become a horrifyingly common occurrence. Imagine this: Little tykes lumbering around with backpacks that dwarf them, the usual school corridor hustle and bustle. Then, one of those days, all hell breaks loose.  Kids are ducking under desks, teachers are slamming doors shut, and everyone’s hearts are hammering against rib cages like they’re trying to break free. The usual school chit-chat about homework and crushes gets drowned out by a deafening chorus of fear. Phones light up with texts that are half “I love yous” and half goodbye notes. Imagine the terror, the screams, the scramble.

And what do we do? Stand by and watch this horror show play on repeat. Politicians trot out, toss around their “thoughts and prayers,” and then it’s lights out, show’s over, until the next heartbreaking rerun. Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland, Uvalde — the list goes on…

…and still, nothing changes.

A study by CNN found that between 2009 and 2018, the U.S. had 57 times more school shootings than the other G7 countries combined. 57 times more. America’s gun violence epidemic is a uniquely American problem, and it demands a uniquely American solution.

“We need more guns to stop gun violence,” they say. Oh, sure, and I need a hole in the head like I need a submarine to learn swimming. It’s a sick joke, isn’t it? Just look at the scoreboard — 38 school shootings this year with injuries or worse, and a whopping 322 school shootings overall according to the K-12 School Shooting Database. That’s not normal, folks. So, yeah, Stephen King’s right, painfully so. And maybe, if we start listening to the guy who knows a thing or two about horror, we might just find our way out of this haunted house. Let’s just hope it’s not too late.

Horror legend Stephen King has been very open about his partying days. He’s a known alcoholic and has written books about the horrors of the disease (notably The Shining). He used that particular insight to say something about Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s troubled pick for the Pentagon leadership role: spot it you got it. Meaning King can suss out an alcoholic when he sees one.

King, who recently left X after calling it “too toxic,” took a scalpel to the ongoing confirmation kerfuffle going on around Hegseth on Bluesky. There are the assault allegations, of course, but there’s one thing that’s weirdly taken a lot of the real estate of that conversation: Hegseth’s drinking.

“It takes one to know one: Pete Hegseth is an alcoholic,” King said on the platform. You can’t really get more direct than that. The A word is one that Hegseth seems to strategically try to avoid. It has a bad connotation for someone looking to run the military industrial complex.

A simple Google search will reveal that the press is trying to also avoid the word, perhaps for fear of retaliation or perhaps because they don’t want to put words in his mouth. The Daily Beast called the issue “alcohol troubles.” The Washington Post called it a “history with alcohol.”

What really seemed to push the issue to the forefront was an article in The New Yorker from about a week ago called “Pete Hegseth’s Secret History.” That publication refrained from using the word alcohol altogether in the headline.

In an interview with Meet The Press over at NBC, Trump was forced to comment on the issue. “It looks like Pete is doing well now,” he said in an interview that will air on Dec. 8.”I mean, people were a little bit concerned.”

Hegseth used to work at Fox News, and NBC News spoke with several of his former colleagues over there about his drinking. Some of those people said they smelled alcohol on him before he went live on the air. They also said he would talk about being hungover a lot. Sometimes he would miss important events.

“Everyone would be talking about it behind the scenes before he went on the air,” one of the former Fox employees said. The New Yorker article highlighted Hegseth’s behavior at two of his previous jobs before he came to Fox News. They also said he was “such a charming guy” but he acted like rules “didn’t apply to him.”

“A previously undisclosed whistle-blower report on Hegseth’s tenure as the president of Concerned Veterans for America, from 2013 until 2016, describes him as being repeatedly intoxicated while acting in his official capacity — to the point of needing to be carried out of the organization’s events,” the magazine said.

Well, that certainly sounds like an alcoholic, that’s for sure. Hegseth has been in closed door meetings all week to try and staunch the bleeding, and it actually seems to be working. Speaker Mike Johnson recently said he was “optimistic” about Hegseth’s chances and that “We’ve all made mistakes in our lives, but we believe in redemption.” So far, only King has been brazen enough to call it like he sees it.

In proof that leaving Elon’s hellhole of a social media site really is best for everyone, Stephen King‘s decision to switch X for one of the defiled bird app’s competitors has ended up being a balm for the soul. Despite being one of the site’s most talkative and heroic celeb s, King elected to the mass X-odus earlier this week when he jumped ship to Meta’s alternate, Threads. And it’s only taken a couple of days for the horror maestro to make himself at home and become the most wholesome on the platform.

It all started when a newbie reader looking to get into King’s books asked him which of his many tomes she should start with. Over on X, you’d be lucky to get a like from the celeb you tried that with, but in this case King obliged. “11/23/63,” the man himself replied, surprising everyone by actually answering her question.

View on Threads

“So you just say Stephen King’s name and he appears">

It's got to the point where shouting King's name into the Threads void has become like a wholesome version of saying "Bloody Mary" in a mirror. Be warned, it doesn't always work, though. And whatever you do, make sure you're punctuating your posts correctly. You don't want to scare him off.

View on Threads

Sorry, Musk, but you should just give up on your doomed quest to stamp social media under your boot right now. As one Threads accurately put it, "This is Stephen King's internet now, and I'm just happy to be here."

View on Threads

In the wake of the election, s are fleeing X in their droves, with the two most popular alt-platforms being King's choice of Threads and Bluesky, which is where his fellow Muskaphobe Mark Hamill has departed to. King might be giving Michael Keaton a run for his money in becoming the book-recommending Beetlejuice we never knew we needed, but it's Elon who's the ghost with the most... toxic social media site.

Stephen King‘ announced his departure from X (formerly Twitter), marking another significant exit from a platform that has undergone dramatic transformations since its acquisition by Elon Musk. Of course, the MAGA crowd didn’t wait long to prove why King was right to quit X.

Twitter’s decline began in October 2022 when Elon Musk acquired the platform for $44 billion and immediately implemented sweeping changes, including renaming it as X. After taking control, Musk fired several top executives and merged the company into a new entity called X Corp, setting the stage for what would become a significant shift in social media dynamics.

Under Musk’s stewardship, the platform has increasingly amplified right-leaning narratives, with its AI-driven trending section highlighting conspiracy theories and partisan content. This shift hasn’t been subtle – Musk himself has emerged as one of Trump’s most significant financial backers, effectively turning X into an unofficial promotional outlet for the MAGA initiative.

movement. This devolution has left many s, like King, feeling that there’s no longer room for balanced discourse on a platform that once prided itself on being a space for diverse voices and perspectives.

Under Elon Musk, X has become a MAGA megaphone

X’s new direction has led to a mass exodus of prominent figures, with King being the latest in a growing list. Other notable departures include Jenna Ortega, former CNN host Don Lemon, and actress Jamie Lee Curtis, all citing similar concerns about the platform’s increasingly toxic atmosphere. The exodus has coincided with a surge in migration to alternative platforms like Threads and Bluesky, which have seen significant growth in their bases in the past few months.

King’s departure is particularly symbolic given his long-standing presence on the platform and his history of engaging with political discourse. As such, his decision to leave reflects a broader concern about the platform’s role in amplifying extreme viewpoints and fostering an environment hostile to moderate voices. The immediate response to his departure announcement — a flood of hostile reactions from MAGA ers — quickly validated his concerns about the platform’s deteriorating state.

The irony of X’s transformation into a MAGA echo chamber lies in its devastating financial impact. While Musk has successfully cultivated a platform that amplifies right-wing voices, the company’s value has plummeted by an astounding 80% since his takeover. Advertising revenue, once the platform’s lifeblood, has been cut in half, with the company expected to generate only $2.5 billion in 2023 compared to over $5 billion before Musk’s acquisition. This financial hemorrhage suggests that Musk’s self-proclaimed business acumen might be significantly overrated, as he’s effectively paying billions to create a social media platform that caters to an increasingly narrow audience.

Given the coarse level of replies King’s last tweet got, that’s not exactly surprising. To celebrate the departure of the renowned author, the MAGA crowd unleashed a barrage of hostile messages, many including sexist, homophobic, and ableist language. This deranged reaction pattern has become increasingly common on X, where civil discourse has been replaced by aggressive trolling and hate speech, driving away not just prominent figures but also rs who don’t want their brands associated with such content.

At a time when an ever-increasing amount of famous figures and organizations are ditching the sinking ship that is X, one man seems determined to stand as a bastion for all that is good and decent on the once-great (well, at least tolerable) social media platform. That man is Stephen King, who shows no signs of exiting X as he continues his quest to antagonize a real-life villain scarier than any he has created in his novels: Elon Musk.

On an app that desperately needs less hare-brained bigotry and more wholesome content, King provided a little from column A and a little from column B in his latest clap-back to Musk’s MAGA miasma. It’s good to know that, however much things change and no matter how dark things get, our spirits can still be lifted just a tad by someone posting a cute pet pic online. Especially when said cute pet is apparently planning to treat Musk like a particularly appetizing mailman.

“Molly, aka the Thing of Evil, considers putting the bite on the Musk-man,” King captioned the photo of his adorable, but supposedly secretly evil, corgi. Look at those big eyes! Who’s a good girl for tearing Musk a new sphincter to speak out of? Who’s a good girl?

Molly may look like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, but King knows a thing or two about evil so we’re willing to bet she’s more dangerous than she looks, going by nickname. The horror master has been turning the everyday into nightmare scenarios for his devoted readers for decades now, so it’s about time he redirected that power towards those who deserve a good fright for a change. We’re all for a Cujo remake starring Molly and Musk — that would be the only time Elon could show up in a movie without making us roll our eyes.

Tweeting your dislike of certain public figures used to be the right of every Twitter , but these days speaking against Elon could get your banned. Rumors swirled recently, in fact, that Musk had slapped King with a permanent ban, but thankfully those reports have been greatly exaggerated. Currently, King continues to mock Trump’s new “First Lady” with as much reckless abandon as Jack Torrance slashing through a bathroom door. Long may it continue.

We’re still waiting on that new Dark Tower adaptation from Mike Flanagan, but in the meantime it seems King is staging his own epic battle between good and evil on X, casting himself as the Gunslinger — or tweetslinger — battling Elon’s despicable Man Musk in Black. As much as we still have to sleep with the lights on after reading his books, there’s something much scarier about Musk’s sphere of influence spreading ever further with each ing year.

Scooch over in that drain, Pennywise. Let us help you with that rope, Annie Wilkes. We’d rather take our chances with any King villain than the insidious IRL evil of Elon. Unless Molly can protect us all, that is.