In the wake of yet another controversial and racially charged statement, Donald Trump has garnered some unfavorable comparisons to a notorious literary villain. No, not Scrooge or Iago. Book lovers on Twitter have found remarkable similarities between Trump and Lord Voldemort from the “Harry Potter” series. Fans of the series will recognize this as a massive insult to the presidential candidate, who has continually made headlines for his extreme comments about Muslims and immigration policy.
What could have been seen as merely one group’s opinion has been made gospel, though, thanks to the input of JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books.
“How horrible,” Rowling tweeted. “Voldemort was nowhere near as bad.”
The comparison is drawn from Voldemort’s goal of ridding the wizarding world of people with non-magical parentage, known derogatorily as Mudbloods. Voldemort is also virtually indestructible, as it often seems Trump is in the polls.
What Trump should really be worried about, though, is that a large number of people—including the creator of the character—think he is indistinguishable from and even worse than a genocidal, cartoonishly evil villain. Voldemort and his army were parallel figures to Hitler and the Nazis, with their attempts at racial purification and trying to murder babies and whatnot; his Trump himself is facing accusations of treading into fascist territory in his statements about Muslims being barred from entering the United States, forced to enter a national database, and made to wear identification badges. Trump has already been compared to Hitler by The Philadelphia Daily News.
Trump has not yet responded to the criticism, though one can imagine it would go something along the lines of, “Voldemort is a loser. He couldn’t even kill a baby. I’ve killed hundreds of babies!”
Or maybe he’ll just let this one slide.