--- title: J.K. Rowling Crticizes Donald Trump With Emerson Quote description: The Harry Potter author just can't seem to stop tweeting at the president canonical: https://time.com/4893163/j-k-rowling-on-trump-emerson/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-09T15:17:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:46:15.727Z og:title: J.K. Rowling Just Used Trump's Own Words Against Him og:description: Rowling unleashed one brutal tweet in response to the president og:url: https://time.com/4893163/j-k-rowling-on-trump-emerson/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteae8301e045ffe90/6988c1fc7cdbac3264d57cb5/trump-rowling.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: trump-rowling og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: J.K. Rowling Just Used Trump's Own Words Against Him twitter:description: Rowling unleashed one brutal tweet in response to the president twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteae8301e045ffe90/6988c1fc7cdbac3264d57cb5/trump-rowling.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # J.K. Rowling Just Used Trump's Own Words Against Him for a Literary Burn by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Aug 9, 2017 3:17 PM UTC  Olivier Douliery-Pool—Getty Images (L); Jeff Spicer—Getty Images Olivier Douliery-Pool—Getty Images (L); Jeff Spicer—Getty ImagesDonald Trump in Washington, DF, on April 3, 2017 (L); J.K. Rowling in London, on Feb. 12, 2017 by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Aug 9, 2017 3:17 PM UTC White House aide [Stephen Miller](http://time.com/4884808/stephen-miller-immigration-policy-jim-acosta/) may have praised President Donald Trump a great [orator](http://www.newsweek.com/trump-most-gifted-politician-our-time-says-stephen-miller-648424), but that wouldn’t stop _Harry Potter_ author [J.K. Rowling](http://time.com/4881803/j-k-rowling-apology-donald-trump-disability/) from criticizing him. In just two [little tweets](http://time.com/4777090/jk-rowling-trump-lewis-carroll/), totaling less than 280 characters, Rowling managed to target both Fox News and Trump. As the President has been an avid and ardent Twitter user for years, as many have noted, his critics are quick to spread tweets buried in Trump’s [Twitter archive](http://time.com/4860529/donald-trump-tweets-poll-approval/). Rowling seems to have done a little Twitter archaeology to unearth Trump quoting the author and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson: > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/223512061186031616) She responded with an ex post facto zinger: > [](https://twitter.com/jk%5Frowling/status/895154523945218048) Trump wasn’t the only target of [Rowling’s](http://time.com/4765203/j-k-rowling-donald-trump-third-person-tweet/) fiery tweets, though. She also aimed for Fox News after they quoted Trump’s political advisor Stephen Miller. > [](https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/895081686681124864) Rowling retorted with a few words that harked back to the age of great orators (or possibly _The Hunger Games_): > [](https://twitter.com/jk%5Frowling/status/895099314606886914) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4893163/j-k-rowling-on-trump-emerson/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4893163/j-k-rowling-on-trump-emerson/"},"headline":"J.K. 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