Stephen King isn’t happy with his senator.
The prolific horror novelist and Maine resident took to Twitter Friday to express his displeasure with Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), saying, “Remember when [Collins] said she was convinced that Brett Kavanaugh believed a woman’s right to choose was ‘settled law?’ She was wrong. Women in Texas must pay the price for her gullibility.”
Kavanaugh joined Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett in declining to rule on an emergency stay to a new Texas law that protects most pre-born babies starting at six weeks, the point at which a heartbeat can be detected.
The law went into effect Wednesday morning, and that same day King claimed, “The Taliban would love the Texas abortion law.”
It’s hardly the first time King has attacked Collins.
Last year, at the height of Donald Trump’s impeachment proceedings, he called for Collins’ ouster, showing a bit of his 1960s protestor roots. “Republican Murkowski, not up for re-election, voted against witnesses,” King said, “Republican Collins, up for re-election, voted for witnesses. Both will vote to acquit. It’s Moscow Mitch at his finest. Hey hey, ho ho, Susan Collins has to go.”
But despite the fact that King remains one of Maine’s most famous sons, he hasn’t had much success persuading his neighbors to his political point of view, a fact that King himself has acknowledged. In 2019, he bemoaned to late-night host Stephen Colbert that “Susan Collins has been there for about a thousand years.”
It’s not quite that long, but Collins is one of the longest-sitting senators in Congress, first taking office in 1997. Many political pundits predicted her vote to confirm Kavanaugh would result in her streak of election wins finally coming to an end. Instead, Collins handily defeated Democratic challenger Sara Gideon in the most expensive Senate race in the state’s history, despite the fact that Gideon outspent Collins more than two-to-one.
King isn’t the only celebrity slamming Collins.
Ellen Barkin gave King the compliment of restraint, retweeting his comment and adding, “Mr King is a kind man. I’m not. Susan Collins is a liar and a disgrace to her sex.”
“Star Trek” actor George Takei said, “Susan Collins was wrong about Kavanaugh and Gorsuch. She sold women out, and Maine voters should never forget that.”
Finally, comedian and podcaster Dana Goldberg tweeted, “SO glad Susan Collins had a stern conversation with Kavanaugh and believed Roe V. Wade was established law before she voted to confirm Drunky McRapey.”
King and the others might take some comfort in the fact that Collins may also regret her choice to confirm Kavanaugh. She released a statement Thursday expressing her disappointment with the Court’s decision, saying:
The Supreme Court recognized that there are ‘serious questions’ regarding the constitutionality of the Texas law, and it emphasized that its recent ruling does not address those questions. I oppose the Court’s decision to allow the law to remain in effect for now while these underlying constitutional and procedural questions are litigated.