Liberal author Stephen King took a verbal beating on Twitter after he suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin was making a “serious miscalculation” when he proceeded to invade Ukraine with President Joe Biden in the White House.
“Mr. Putin has made a serious miscalculation. He forgot he’s no longer dealing with Trump,” King tweeted.
Mr. Putin has made a serious miscalculation.
He forgot he's no longer dealing with Trump.— Stephen King (@StephenKing) February 23, 2022
Critics began to respond right away, with some asking whether he’d been drinking or when he’s decided to take up writing satire.
“100k likes on this take. I guess none of them are actually watching the news,” Noam Blum (@neontaster) replied.
Washington, D.C.-based attorney Aaron Walker pointed out a pattern in Putin’s behavior, adding, “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,” researcher Oliver Jia tweeted.
Jia went on to add a dig at King directly, saying, “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.”
But the most common response to King was simple:
— Matthew Kolken (@mkolken) February 23, 2022
King was not the only one to make a similar claim with regard to Putin and whether he would have invaded Ukraine had Biden not been president.
From MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow’s blog: “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?” Professor Michael McFaul tweeted.
Former Congressman Joe Walsh (R-IL) agreed, 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.”
Caleb Hull summed up the reaction from the left, tweeting, “*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