This Is My Dark Prediction for How Trump Will Die: Author

An award-winning author has imagined an even darker America in his forthcoming book—including his fictional version of the president’s demise.

Journalist and author Kurt Andersen has shared details of his forthcoming novel, The Breakup, a chilling vision of America’s future that imagines the country pushed to its breaking point after Donald Trump’s death sparks nationwide unrest.

Then, the writer decided he would instead imagine one version of what the future could hold.

Andersen’s fifth novel contains a scene set in 2035, where President Donald Trump is at Trump Tower celebrating his 89th birthday. As he descends his famous golden escalator, the president dies of a “massive brain stroke,” Andersen said.

Then, things escalate even further. Those who had gathered to celebrate the now-deceased president’s birthday—and the 20th anniversary of his first presidential campaign—chalk up his demise to a “deep-state assassination.” They take to the streets of New York City, the hometown of their fallen leader, and begin rioting.

“It’s the first spectacular piece of violence, spontaneous violence that then results a year later in an uprising, in a, in a true right-wing uprising, terrorist uprising,” Andersen said.

A spokesperson for the White House did not respond to a request for comment on Andersen’s fictional portrayal.

Andersen, who co-founded Spy magazine, said he began working on the novel before Trump, 80, was elected to a second presidential term.

“I was basically done when he took off,” he said. “Almost done when he took office.”

He did, however, “darken” the novel as Trump’s second term unfolded.

“[It] certainly required me to go through and darken the backstory… more horrible and nightmarish than I had had them in the earlier draft,” Andersen said.

The president and Andersen, whose previous books include Fantasyland and Evil Geniuses, have a long history. After launching Spy magazine in 1986, Andersen and co-founder Graydon Carter chose the then-real estate mogul and Manhattan socialite Trump as a symbol of the “vulgarity of New York in the ‘80s.”

Now, to Andersen, Trump symbolizes much more. His novel, which will be released on Aug. 18, centers on the “breakup of America,” as Coles described it. At the same time, it follows one Gen Z/millennial couple’s 23-year relationship unraveling, mirroring a nation that looks drastically different from the country they lived in when they first fell in love.

“This time, the horror show of this term, the nightmare beyond what I expected,” Andersen summed up. “In the last year and a half, in the last three years since I was began writing this book, it has become much less far-fetched than it seemed when I began.”