Stephen King, a famous liberal author, has been the target of much abuse on Twitter after he claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was making a “serious miscalculation” when he started to invade Ukraine while President Joe Biden sits in the White House.
“Mr. Putin has made a serious miscalculation. He forgot he’s no longer dealing with Trump,” stated King in a tweet.
Mr. Putin has made a serious miscalculation.
He forgot he's no longer dealing with Trump.— Stephen King (@StephenKing) February 23, 2022
Critics piled on almost instantly as many started asking whether he had been drinking before issuing this statement or when he had decided to make a career swap to take up writing satire.
“100k likes on this take. I guess none of them are actually watching the news,” stated Noam Blum (@neontaster) claimed in reply.
Aaron Walker, one Washington, D.C.-based attorney, highlighted a pattern in behavior from Putin, stating, “Obama is in office and Putin invades Crimea. Trump is in office and Putin invades no one. Biden is in office and Putin invades Ukraine. Do you see the pattern?”
“Also if you want to play that game, you could make the opposite argument that Putin annexed Crimea under Obama and didn’t invade Ukraine under Trump. You have to be seriously ignorant on geopolitics to think Putin is going to stop just because Biden is here,” stated Oliver Jia, a researcher, in a tweet.
Jia then added on one last shot at King directly, stating, “Stephen King is a boomer author whose best years are behind him and someone who can ignorantly pontificate on international politics that don’t affect him from his ivory tower. I never understood why anyone would take him seriously on anything involving the real world.”
However, the most common reaction, by far, to King’s comments was quite simple:
— Matthew Kolken (@mkolken) February 23, 2022
King was not alone in issuing this type of claim in regards to Putin and his stance on the possible invasion of Ukraine had Biden not been holding the oval office.
As stated on the blog of MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow: “Why didn’t Russia invade Ukraine during Trump’s term? Perhaps because Putin was so pleased to see Trump pursuing goals in line with Moscow’s agenda.”
“Putin was not deterred in the Trump years. Putin had a partner in Trump, in doing damage to NATO & U.S.-Ukraine relations (dont [sic] you remember impeachment No. 1?) He was waiting for Trump’s reelection. Does anyone doubt Trump would have tried to close NATOs door to Ukraine?” tweeted out one Professor Michael McFaul.
Joe Walsh, a former congressman, seemed to agree, adding, “A refresher for all those who think Putin never would’ve invaded if Trump were still President. Bullshit. Nobody was softer on Russia than Trump. Trump spent 4 yrs attacking Ukraine. Trump laid the groundwork for this invasion. Putin wanted Trump to win a 2nd term.”
The whole sentiment was summed up quite well by Caleb Hull when he tweeted: “*Obama elected* *Putin invades Crimea* *Trump elected* *Putin does nothing* *Biden elected* *Putin invades Ukraine* Libs: ‘Oh man, thank God Trump isn’t president right while this is happening.’ America: [facepalm emojis]”
*Obama elected*
*Putin invades Crimea*
*Trump elected*
*Putin does nothing*
*Biden elected*
*Putin invades Ukraine*
Libs: "Oh man, thank God Trump isn't president right while this is happening."
America: 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) February 23, 2022