Top-selling horror author and outspoken progressive Stephen King called for President Biden to step aside Monday.
“Joe Biden has been a fine president, but it’s time for him—in the interests of the America he so clearly loves—to announce he will not run for re-election,” the 76-year-old writer posted on X.
King joins liberal filmmaker Rob Reiner in urging the 81-year-old president to step aside. Pressure for Biden to abandon the Democratic party nomination has mounted since a dismal June 27 debate performance raised questions about the lifetime politician’s mental acuity.
Reiner said Sunday on X that “It’s time to stop f—-ing around” for Democrats who need to make defeating Republican candidate Donald Trump their top priority.
“If the Convicted Felon wins, we lose our Democracy,” Reiner warned. “Joe Biden has effectively served US with honor, decency, and dignity. It’s time for Joe Biden to step down.”
Despite his detractors, the president insists he’ll continue campaigning against Trump and defeat him a second time this fall.
Polling shows Trump, 78, leading Biden in what’s shaping up to be a close race. The mental acuity of the Republican party’s presumptive nominee has also been questioned. He’s known to misidentify his political opponents and repeat falsehoods on a wide range of subjects.
Trump often boasts about having passed a cognitive test, but repeatedly gave the wrong name of the physician he said administered that exam during a rally last month.
King regularly supports Democratic politicians and antagonizes Trump on social media. His call for Biden to leave someone else to run against Trump prompted X owner and Republican party supporter Elon Musk to joke about the situation.
“Even Stephen King is voting for Trump!” Musk posted. However, there’s no reason to believe King would consider supporting Trump.
“The Shining” author routinely criticized Trump online when the former reality star served in the White House from 2017 to 2021. King said after Biden was inaugurated he was “pretty much done tweeting about Donald Trump.”
An unadvertised and fiery Monday morning phone call from Biden to MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” appeared to move the needle slightly for Reiner.
“If we see the Joe Biden that appeared on Morning Joe today every day until Nov. 5, he’ll be able to shut up people like me who think he should step aside,” Reiner conceded.
