Stephen King has never been one to shy away from expressing his political views on Twitter, and as such, managed to get in a few potshots to make the platform break out its “conversations like this can be intense” warning to close out 2021. In a series of tweets early Friday afternoon, the prolific horror novelist took aim at former Vice President Mike Pence in reference to an NPR story about a U.S. Capitol police officer who is still experiencing severe physical and psychological wounds from the insurrection that took place nearly a year ago.
U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell told NPR’s “All Things Considered” that he thought he was going to die that day on Jan. 6. He also reserves special ire for Pence downplaying the tragic series of events that killed five people and injured 138 officers. In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network earlier this month, Pence accused Democrats of trying to politicize the insurrection.
“I’m not going to allow the Democrats or the national media to use one tragic day in January to demean the intentions of 74 million people who stood with us in our cause,” Pence said at the time. “And I’m not going to allow the Democrats to use one tragic day in January to distract attention from their failed agenda and the failed policies of the Biden Administration.”
“That one day in January almost cost my life,” Gonell told host Mary Louise Kelly. “And we did everything possible to prevent him [Pence] from being hanged and killed in front of his daughter and his wife. And now he’s telling us that that one day in January doesn’t mean anything. It’s pathetic. It’s a disgrace.”
It’s difficult not to be moved by Gonell’s words, as evidenced by King’s reaction. “Pence needs to apologize to Sgt. Gonell, who saved him from being beaten and possibly lynched,” he tweeted. “How can Pence NOT apologize? He claims to be a Christian.” He followed up a minute later with another tweet demanding that Pence apologize.
But King wasn’t done there. He also saved some ire for former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who had earlier tweeted some nonsense accusing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) of traveling to Florida ostensibly to escape “mandate-ridden” New York. “My goodness, Kayleigh, you really ARE a dingbat, aren’t you?” King quipped.
Now, calling someone a “dingbat” isn’t very nice, as most of us learned at a young age. But in McEnany’s case, well, it’s not the worst thing he could have called her.