Author of dystopian novel compares Trump to story’s dictator

Margaret Atwood, author of the bestseller “The Handmaid’s Tale,” compared President Trump to the theocratic dictator who runs the United States in her novel.

“When it first came out it was viewed as being farfetched,” Atwood said of her book in a Reuters interview. “However when I wrote it I was making sure I wasn’t putting anything into it that human beings had not already done somewhere at sometime.”

“You are seeing a bubbling up of it now,” she continued, alluding to Trump’s policies. “It’s back to 17th century puritan values of new England at that time in which women were pretty low on the hierarchy.”

She said the book saw a rise in sales after Trump won the election, saying that people worried about women’s issues under Trump related to the lack of women’s rights in the book.

It’s also likely, however, the increase in sales is also related to the announcement of the television adaption of the book which came out toward the end of the presidential election.

Atwood’s book, originally published in 1985, is being turned into a TV show which includes former “Man Men” star Elisabeth Moss. Atwood also said in the interview that her book has seen a spike in sales. 

“We think as progress being a straight line forever upwards,” Atwood added of the current political climate. “But it never has been so, you can think you are being a liberal democracy but then bang you’re Hitler’s Germany, that can happen very suddenly.”

Other dystopian novels have seen a surge in sales following Trump’s election, including George Orwell’s “1984” which hit Amazon’s bestseller list and temporarily sold out online.