'The country will take 40 years to recover': Stephen King takes a dig at President Trump

Stephen King, a prominent author, predicted a grim future for America, inflicted by wounds of a "selfish" man, in an apparent nod to President Donald Trump. "It will be at least 40 years before our loved and lovely America recovers from the wounds this selfish, stupid, and ego-driven man has inflicted. That it will recover seems certain to me, but it will leave scars," he wrote on X.

The 78-year-old, dubbed the "King of Horror," is a vocal critic of the President, regularly targeting his rhetoric and policies across the two terms. He recently shared his two cents on Trump's claims that vandals were responsible for the ongoing problems at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. "This is a visible example of his corruption—a no-bid contract to some crony followed by sky-high cost overruns, and shoddy construction to boot. Classic Trump: I didn't f*ck up, it was my enemies," King wrote in another post.

King is referring to Trump's claim that vandals were responsible for the deteriorating condition of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which was recently restored at a cost of nearly $16 million. The renovation began in April and was completed in June ahead of America's 250th anniversary celebrations. But the pool was quickly beset by algae, sweltering heat, and bits of blue coating that began peeling off into the water. Trump has remained defiant, insisting without substantiation that the problems stem from actions of "deranged Democrats."

But critics, including King, have laid the blame squarely on the manner in which the renovation was undertaken—a no-bid contract awarded to individuals and companies reportedly tied to Trump himself. In fact, King went as far as to suggest that Trump's overall infrastructure record has been poor, endorsing a post from another X account that took aim at everything from the Kennedy Center fiasco to the proposed East Wing ballroom.

This is not the only instance of King criticizing Trump's handling of a particular issue. He recently tore into Trump's comments prioritizing the denuclearization of Iran over the financial struggles of ordinary Americans. Taking to X, the 'The Shining' author accused Trump of "swanning around" in Air Force One, eating "steak and eggs at every meal," while remaining oblivious to the troubles facing American citizens.

King has also criticized the administration's $1.5 trillion defense budget request. "You could feed a lot of hungry people and build a lot of schools for $1.5 trillion. Maybe fix some Interstate highways, too," he wrote in another post. The criticism has been relentless enough that Trump blocked King on X, then operating as Twitter, back in 2017, in his first term itself. King responded in kind, sarcastically "blocking" Trump from watching adaptations of his books, 'It' and 'Mr. Mercedes'.