Stephen King Sends Message to Marjorie Taylor Greene

Stephen King has slammed Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene for saying she approves of a partial government shutdown this week.

On January 19, funding for projects related to housing, transportation, veterans' affairs, energy and water, agriculture and military construction will end. The remaining government funding runs out on February 2.

During a government shutdown, all federal employees and agencies that aren't considered essential are required to stop working. However, lawmakers are working on a temporary bill to keep the government open by giving the agencies that could be impacted financing until March 1. The goal of the deal is to prevent immediate disruption and buy more time for the drafting of the complex spending legislation that funds government activity.

Greene, a MAGA Republican and a Donald Trump loyalist, doesn't think that a government shutdown would be a bad thing. On January 14 she retweeted a post on X, formerly Twitter, from journalist Joyce Karam that read: "SCOOP: Hundreds of US Gov. Employees plan Walkout on Tuesday over Biden's Gaza Policies. **22 Agencies** involved."

The walkout reflects mounting anger among U.S. officials over the Biden administration's refusal to call for a cease-fire in Gaza, according to Al-Monitor.

The Republican Party member added: "Another reason I won't feel guilty over a government shutdown. Too many federal employees are nothing more than political activists. This will be a great list to fire ASAP!"

The post didn't go down well with King, who retweeted it and asked: "Do you keep getting paid, dear?"

When the government shuts down, members of Congress continue to be paid because their pay cannot be altered except by direct law. Federal employees who are told not to report for work get paid retroactively when the shutdown ends.

Newsweek reached out to representatives for Greene and King via email for comment Monday.

People took to the comment section of the critically acclaimed horror author's post to echo his sentiment, expressing their disgust at the fact that politicians will continue to be paid.

"The rules need to change if Congress shuts down the government, they shouldn't be paid," one person wrote.

"I dont often agree with Stephen king but when i do its probably something to do with government overspending... Get her mr king," said another.

"On this we agree, but it doesn't go far enough, I don't think congress or POTUS should get a dime until the budget is balanced," a different X user commented.

A fourth added: "Non [sic] of them deserve pay tbh... taxes should be withheld back to the citizens until congress can demonstrate positive outcomes for USA citizens. As of now, there is nothing positive."

However, others have criticized the best-selling author for his tweet, with some even jumping to Greene's defense.

"What a condescending misogynist," one said.

"Steph, it's naive and insincere to think a vast majority of federal jobs programs aren't used to pack agencies with political cronies and create a bureaucratic class of voters who want to keep their jobs doing nothing," another person wrote.

A third added: "Take a break from writing crappy content and try reading."

King never misses an opportunity to call out Greene online. On one occasion he criticized her on X was after she appeared on Tucker Carlson's show Tucker on X, released December 10, to discuss the state of U.S. politics.

During her appearance, Greene criticized the White House claiming that "Washington doesn't care about normal Americans and normal American ideas and normal American values."

Greene shared a clip of the interview, captioning it: "If you don't fund the foreign wars, if you don't wear their flag, and if you don't have a sign outside your office door, you're going against Washington, against the Pentagon, and against the military industrial complex. And you will pay the price."

King slammed Greene's stance by retweeting her post and adding: "Putin loves fools like you."

He also criticized Greene on November 5 when she posted inaccurate information amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

"Israel is literally dominating in their war with Hamas after being brutally attacked killing thousands of innocent people, and not one single American dollar has been spent on that war yet. Just think about that," she wrote on X.

Plenty of people were quick to correct her, including King: "Are you tripping? We've given them aid and armaments for decades."