Stephen King's Donald Trump, Kamala Harris Debate Post Takes Off Online

Bestselling author Stephen King's X, formerly Twitter, post weighing in on Donald Trump appearing to back out of the presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris has taken off on social media on Saturday.

On Thursday, Trump's campaign team said the former president would not commit to appearing at the next presidential debate until the "political chaos" surrounding the Democratic Party's nomination process was over.

The presidential debate on September 10, hosted by ABC News, was previously scheduled when President Joe Biden was expected to face off against Trump, the Republican presidential nominee. However on Sunday, Biden announced he would step down from the race and endorse Harris, the now presumptive 2024 Democratic nominee.

Steven Cheung, Trump's communications director, said in a previous statement that it would be "inappropriate to schedule things with Harris because Democrats very well could still change their minds" about whom they confirm as their nominee.

King, the author of classic horror novels like The Shining and It, and an outspoken Democrat who frequently criticizes Trump, took aim at the former president's age as he is now the oldest presidential candidate in the 2024 election at 78 years old. Biden is 81.

"Elderly Presidential candidate Don Trump doesn't dare debate Kamala Harris," King wrote on Saturday afternoon. The post has since garnered over 185,000 views and over 7,500 likes as of publication.

Newsweek has reached out to Trump's campaign via email for comment.

This comes after June's first presidential debate hosted by CNN saw Trump and Biden face off on various key issues like immigration and inflation. However, while the two have faced concerns about their age and cognitive abilities, Biden failed to quell those concerns during the debate with his lackluster performance which eventually led to him ending his 2024 campaign.

Since announcing her presidential campaign, Harris, 59, who has not faced any serious challengers, has managed to secure enough support from delegates to clinch the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

However, Cheung said in his statement, "Given the continued political chaos surrounding Crooked Joe Biden and the Democrat Party, general election debate details cannot be finalized until Democrats formally decide on their nominee."

The Democratic National Convention (DNC) takes place in Chicago starting on August 19.

Trump has previously said he would be open to debating Harris, but that the event should be hosted by Fox News rather than "very biased ABC."

Harris herself has also criticized Trump for appearing to back away from the September 10 debate, writing on X on Thursday, "What happened to 'any time, any place?'" as she referenced previous remarks Trump had made when he was expected to face off against Biden earlier this year.

In addition, Harris told reporters on Thursday that she was ready to debate the former president.

"I have agreed to the previously agreed upon September 10 debate. He agreed to that previously," she said. "Now, here he is backpedaling, and I'm ready. And I think the voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on a debate stage, and so I'm ready. Let's go."

This is not the first time King has taken to social media to criticize Trump as he previously weighed in on the former president's assassination attempt.

Trump was speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 when he was shot on stage, with a bullet hitting the upper part of his right ear. The suspected gunman, identified by the FBI as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was shot and killed by the Secret Service. A rally attendee, 50-year-old former firefighter Corey Comperatore was also killed during the incident and two others were injured.

In an X post, King made his opinions on the assassination attempt known by sharing several remarks as he pointed toward a key issue in the election, gun violence.

"An AR-15 style semiautomatic rifle was used in the Butler shooting," he posted last week. "These are the guns the Republican party—and Trump—want to protect."