--- title: JK Rowling on Stephen King, Cujo, Annie Wilkes and Trump description: J. K. Rowling asks Stephen King if the Trump era is more Annie Wilkes or Cujo canonical: https://time.com/4819719/j-k-rowling-stephen-king-donald-trump/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-15T13:20:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T06:50:27.000Z og:title: J. K. Rowling to Stephen King: What's the Timely Horror Story? og:description: King told Rowling he considers Trump a dementor from the world of Harry Potter og:url: https://time.com/4819719/j-k-rowling-stephen-king-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteae8301e045ffe90/6988c1fc7cdbac3264d57cb5/trump-rowling.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1600 og:image:height: 900 og:image:alt: trump-rowling og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: J. K. Rowling to Stephen King: What's the Timely Horror Story? twitter:description: King told Rowling he considers Trump a dementor from the world of Harry Potter twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteae8301e045ffe90/6988c1fc7cdbac3264d57cb5/trump-rowling.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # J. K. Rowling Just Asked Stephen King the Most Stephen King Question About Donald Trump > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=a7bee1f5-6660-4c1a-a621-120e6e7126bc&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Sean Spicer Says President Trump Considers His Tweets 'Official' White House Statements [Watch (HLS stream): Sean Spicer Says President Trump Considers His Tweets 'Official' White House Statements](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZyYTeB6W.m3u8) (0:47)  _Published 2017-06-06. President Donald Trump considers his tweets to be official White House statements, according to Press Secretary Sean Spicer._ by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Updated: Dec 13, 2023 6:50 AM UTCPublished: Jun 15, 2017 1:20 PM UTC President Donald Trump considers his tweets to be official White House statements, according to Press Secretary Sean Spicer. by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Updated: Dec 13, 2023 6:50 AM UTCPublished: Jun 15, 2017 1:20 PM UTC [J. K. Rowling](http://time.com/4816499/stephen-king-trump-block-rowling/)‘s latest question about the President involves the iconic work of Stephen King, so she went right to the source. The [_Harry Potter_](http://time.com/4812905/jk-rowling-misogyny-twitter-rant/) author took to Twitter early Thursday morning to ask her fellow writer, “On a sliding scale of Annie Wilkes to Cujo, what level of delusion do you reckon we’re at today?” Specifically, her message quoted a Thursday morning tweet from President Donald Trump in which he [fought back](http://time.com/4819677/donald-trump-obstruction-of-justice-twitter/) against reports that a special counsel investigating possible Russian interference in the 2016 election was investigating him for obstruction of justice. “They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice,” he tweeted. [_Cujo_](http://entertainment.time.com/2008/10/07/top-10-dog-movies/slide/cujo-1983/) is a 1981 psychological horror novel about a rabid killer dog that terrifies a woman and her young song while they’re trapped in a car, while Annie Wilkes is the name of the twisted captor who tortures an author in the 1987 psychological thriller book [_Misery_](http://entertainment.time.com/2013/10/21/the-big-chills-10-greatest-stephen-king-movies/slide/misery/). (Fans may recall that Kathy Bates won an Oscar for her portrayal of the villain in the Rob Reiner film.) King has long been a [fan of Rowling’s work](http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/07/23/reviews/000723.23kinglt.html), and it appears the feeling is mutual. The two [vocal critics](http://time.com/4777090/jk-rowling-trump-lewis-carroll/) of Trump have struck up a [Twitter](http://time.com/4763122/harry-potter-j-k-rowling-apologizes-snape-death/) friendship lately, so it’s not surprising that Rowling would ask her fellow blockbuster scribe for his take. > [](https://twitter.com/jk%5Frowling/status/875322411012550656) King responded to Rowling by comparing the POTUS to a soul-sucking breed of creatures from her Potter books instead. “Well, I’m not the Donald’s #1 fan, so that lets out Annie Wilkes. I think he’s got more of a Dementor vibe,” he tweeted on Thursday afternoon. > [](https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/875447898309132289) ## Transcript Are President Trump's tweets considered official White House statements? Well the President is the President of the United States. So they're considered official statements by the President of the United States. The President is the most effective messenger on his agenda. And I think his use of social media, he now has a collective total of close to 110 million people across different platforms Gives him an opportunity to speak straight to the American people which has proved to be a very, very effective tool. Is President Trump at all concerned that his tweets could be used against him at the level of the Supreme Court when the ACLU takes on this travel ban case? I think we've made it clear with respect to that, that the court should follow the law. And I think The danger is real. The law is clear and there �� s no question that we should prevail at the Supreme Court. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4819719/j-k-rowling-stephen-king-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4819719/j-k-rowling-stephen-king-donald-trump/"},"headline":"J. K. 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