More Than 400 Writers Sign Petition Protesting Donald Trump

New York Times ^ | 5/26/16 | ALAN RAPPEPORT

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Donald J. Trump has been working to mend fences with many of his detractors, but among literary luminaries it is looking like it will be a tough sell.

A group of more than 400 writers, including big names such as Stephen King, David Eggers, Amy Tan, Junot Díaz and Cheryl Strayed, released an online petition on Tuesday to express their opposition to Mr. Trump’s candidacy on the grounds that he is appealing to the darkest elements in American society.

“The rise of a political candidate who deliberately appeals to the basest and most violent elements in society, who encourages aggression among his followers, shouts down opponents, intimidates dissenters, and denigrates women and minorities, demands, from each of us, an immediate and forceful response,” they wrote.

[Steve_Seattle]

"The rise of a political candidate who deliberately appeals to the basest and most violent elements in society, who encourages aggression among his followers, shouts down opponents, intimidates dissenters, and denigrates women and minorities, demands, from each of us, an immediate and forceful response,”

Well, these are mostly writers of fiction, so what do you expect? Apart from the three or four mentioned at the top of the article, I've never heard of any of them.

As for the specific accusations:

1. Denigrates women: He's denigrated a handful of female politicians. Democrats denigrate Republican female politicians, often in extremely crude terms. Bill and Hillary Clinton's people denigrated women who accused him of sexual harassment and rape.

2. Denigrates minorities: He denigrates illegal immigrants because they are illegal, not because they are typically Hispanic. In his speech yesterday he said he wants to improve economic opportunity for all Americans, and specifically mentioned blacks and Hispanics. As for Muslims, he has a rational fear that too many are unvetted and represent a security threat. On the other side, Democratic politicians have repeatedly suggested that traditional Christians are not welcome in their jurisdictions.

3. Shouts down opponents: He shouts down hecklers who disrupt his events, trying to shut HIM down. Sanders and Clinton people have been explicitly trying to shut down his events for weeks. They have been engaging in vandalism and attacks on police, using foul language. To my knowledge, no Trump supporter has ever tried to shut down a Democratic event.

4. Intimidates dissenters: It is the left who tries to shut down dissent on college campuses, in the press, and amongst the general public.

5. Appeals to the basest and most violent elements of society: So Trump's base is heavily stacked with violent criminals? Do these fiction writers want to test that allegation against reality? Just a couple of weeks ago, the Democratic governor of Virginia wanted to restore the vote to thousands of convicted felons, assuming - probably correctly - that these people would vote heavily Democratic.

[Calvin Locke]

I've heard of a handful of them, and other than King, can't recall any books I've read by any of them.

Maybe have read reviews of their books, or possible articles.

I gave up King last century/millennium.

[Steve_Seattle]

"There are 400 writers who I will not buy books from now."

The vast majority are complete unknowns. Their books are probably as rare as unicorns. Probably a large percentage of wannabees and self-published legends in their own minds.

[Brown Deer]

[dfwgator]

So? Don’t vote for him. What do they want to do, ban him from running?

[JimRed]

What happened to adventure writers like Jack London? Yeah, he was a communist but he could tell a ripping yarn.

How many "communists" took it upon themselves to trek to the Yukon seeking gold, with all the hard work and deprivation that entailed? I suspect he was intellectually interested in the "from each, to each" commie theory, and he died before communism proved itself to be an unworkable and murderous system.

[Steve_Seattle]

"It’s on iPetitions and has reached 10,000 signatures."

And these 10,000 all claim to be writers? Probably 85% are unpublished wannabees, 8% self-published, 6% authors of one-offs, and 1% actual successful, full-time authors.

[rdl6989]

That’s exactly what the lefties want.

I did notice an awful lot of them were from San Francisco and Berkeley.

[central_va]

Nice to know that these eggheads consider me and other Trump supporters the “darker element of society”.

[BBB333]

Ft. Collins, CO seems to be well represented...

[chit*chat]

It was MICHAEL SAVAGE or correctly penned , “Liberalism is a Mental Disorder”, NOT LEVIN.

[IYAS9YAS]

There's more detail here. Especially on the leader of these idiots, author Stephen King.

Stephen King hasn't written anything worth reading since the early '80s.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

Well, they are literally digging into the bottom of the barrel now to find the Anti-Trumps. Hollywood actors and writers...schlock in, schlock out.

[dfwgator]

I do not see Conservative protestors showing up to shout at Hillary. That is a shame, and it is on us.

No, it's because we believe in allowing people to vote for whomever they want, regardless of whether or not we agree with them. These guys basically want us to be a one-party state.

[SMM48]

"It’s on iPetitions and has reached 10,000 signatures."

So, what are they going to do with the petition?

Send it to Obama?

[Steve_Seattle]

I think I read one Stephen King book, and have seen one or two movie adaptations. I found them depressing, portraying a flat, creepy, godless universe of ultimate loneliness.

[Steve_Seattle]

They are protesting Trump because they want to intimidate him and shut him down. They openly admit it. They are not trying to debate him.

[M Kehoe]

If I didn’t know better, I would think these writers were taking about 0bama.

5.56mm

[Nita Nupress]

Thanks for the list. If I knew how, I’d make a boycott app and add the names. The BABBL app. (the Boycott-All-Butthurt-Babies-List app)

[BuckeyeTexan]

Made me LOL.

Who would be surprised if police ever found a basement full of body parts at King’s house?