Donald Trump has flip-flopped on his willingness to debate Kamala Harris at a frequency he usually reserves for telling lies, and Stephen King has simply had enough.
After weeks of going back and forth (presumably out of fear that himself, a convicted felon, would be up against a prolific prosecutor), Trump finally relented and agreed to face his presidential opponent with a debate on ABC scheduled for September 10.
While that is arguably good news — since it will inevitably result in nonsensical tangents on Trump’s part and perhaps even a shoutout to Hannibal Lecter — noted Trump critic King thinks the former president might have a strategy up his sleeve regardless of his debate performance.
Taking to his least favorite platform X, King anticipated how Trump will play the debate in the event that he either wins or loses, saying the GOP candidate “is all set” regardless of the outcome. “If he wins the debate, it’s because Jesus is a MAGA man,” the Salem’s Lot author wrote. “If he loses , it’s because ABC is mean to him.”
Of course, the writing has been on the wall for both outcomes for some time now. To his supporters, Trump has long been associated with some kind of divine intervention that’s supposedly granting him successes, from the “miracle” of his near-death experience with the assassination attempt to his claim just this week that Jesus could help him “win California.”
It stands to reason, then, that Trump potentially winning the debate would be attributed to some otherworldly force according to MAGA supporters, especially since it seriously would take a miracle for him to best Harris (at the risk of jixing it). On the other hand, as King suggests, it’s totally foreseeable that Trump will claim media bias in the event he loses the debate since it’s the same grievance that saw him hesitate when agreeing to it and instead suggest it be hosted on Fox News.
“See what I mean?” King wrote, presumably picturing Trump’s post-debate strategy. “He’s got it coming and going.” It remains to be seen whether King’s foresight will become a reality, but since this is the ever-unpredictable Trump, it might be the case that he surprises us all by bizarrely complimenting Harris as a beautiful actress in the middle of the debate.
In any case, I’m going to start preparing my enormous popcorn bucket for September 10. Let’s hope no rogue flies appear and distract us from what’s hopefully the Roast of Donald Trump.