Stephen King predicted what would happen if Trump becomes President in 1983

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6. The moviemakers were probably going for "believable"

...as in, nobody would really believe that a huckstering asswipe could hustle his way into the Oval Office. Of course Reagan already had, but he was at least a semi-competent actor who was obviously on a leash held by his corporate handlers. Book Stillson is Trump without his inheritance, and Trump is Stillson with a billion dollars, to at least three significant figures.

Neither Stillson nor Trump were "trained" in the hypnotic arts as Scott Adams was, but they both have a natural aptitude which was shared in real life by people like Joseph (How many card-carrying communists are there today) McCarthy. Take that aptitude, combine it with a total lack of fealty to anything except your own ego, and you have a guy who would push the button just to see what happens.