Prominent horror author Stephen King thinks real estate mogul Donald Trump would make a better president than the "very scary" Sen. Ted Cruz, because the latter is a "fundamentalist Christian" and would follow the Bible as his guiding principle rather than the Constitution.
"He's very scary," King said of Cruz in an interview with The Daily Beast to promote his new Hulu original film "11.22.63." "I actually think Trump, in the end, would be more electable than Cruz because Cruz is a fundamentalist Christian, and it would almost be like electing the analog of an Imam - someone whose first guiding principle would be the scripture rather than the Constitution."
King continued: "But I don't think he could get elected. And, even if he was able to govern without blowing up the world, could we look at a guy who resembles a cable game show host for four years? He has that awful plastered-down hair and everything."
King said he hopes Trump doesn't become president either and expressed surprise at his seemingly bulletproof campaign.
"When he came down that escalator to announce that he was going to run for president, I thought to myself that it was a smart joke, and it was a way of basically renewing his brand, refreshing himself in the press and getting to the forefront. I figured he would run for a while, then drop out, and that would be the end of it. And instead, you talk about media-savvy, but he's really the anti-media-savvy candidate. At this point, he's said 40 different things that would have gotten him laughed out of the race if he wasn't so outrageous."
He explained: "In the debate the Republicans had [in New Hampshire], Marco Rubio repeated the same talking point three or four times - and got his clock cleaned by Christie - and it's almost like his candidacy has become a very perilous thing. It was a classic gotcha moment. But if it would've been Trump, it wouldn't have mattered, because this guy can say that 'Megyn Kelly was after me' because she was on her period. He can say he didn't mean that, but that's obviously what he meant. He can talk about Ted Cruz being a pussy and it just bounces off! It's like he's bulletproof. Will he get nominated? I would've said the idea is ridiculous even four months ago, but now I'm not so sure. Then people are saying that if he does get nominated he'd never get elected, and I'm saying, well, hopefully that won't happen. But who knows."
Trump continues to lead the GOP field nationally with 44 percent support, followed by Cruz with 17 percent, according to a recent poll released by the Morning Consult. Cruz came away with a victory in the first-in-the-nation caucuses in Iowa, while Trump took first in the New Hampshire primaries. The next GOP primary will take place on Feb. 20 in South Carolina, where Trump dominates Cruz by a 22-point margin, 42 percent to 20 percent, according to a new CBS poll.
On Monday, things turned tense between the two candidates, with Trump saying that Cruz should stop airings false ads and "retracts his lies" or he will face a lawsuit over his eligibility to serve as president, reported The Associated Press. Cruz was born in Canada to a mother who was an American citizen, and Trump believes a court should decide whether he meets the Constitution's "natural born citizen" requirement.
Trump claims that Cruz is lying when he says the businessman supports abortion rights, would undermine the Second Amendment and would nominate liberal judges to serve on the Supreme Court.
"Ted Cruz is a totally unstable individual. He is the single biggest liar I've ever come across, in politics or otherwise, and I have seen some of the best of them. His statements are totally untrue and completely outrageous," Trump said in the statement. "It is hard to believe a person who proclaims to be a Christian could be so dishonest and lie so much."
