Harry Potter author JK Rowling uses Voldemort as a metaphor for Brexit

Since releasing the seventh “Harry Potter” book in 2007, British author J.K. Rowling has increasingly taken to the web to broadcast opinions on issues far beyond literature. Now she has brought her considerable reach and influence (7.5 million Twitter followers and 5 million Facebook fans) to the Brexit, and her blistering take may prove the most timely and divisive commentary she’s written.

In a blog post on her official website on Monday, Rowling applied her Harry Potter universe to the situation in Britain, where citizens will vote Thursday on whether the country should leave the European Union.

Invoking famous fictional villains like Hannibal Lecter, Big Brother, and her own Lord Voldemort, Rowling writes, “Both sides of this campaign have been telling us stories… They are appealing to us through our universal need to make sense of the world by storytelling… They have not been afraid to conjure monsters calculated to stir up our deepest fears.”

The monsters, Rowling explains, are the exaggerated narratives that both sides of the issue have promulgated. She summarized the campaign for leaving the EU as, “We are being exploited or cheated by the EU. If we can't see that Britain will only regain superpower status if we leave the union, we must be unpatriotic, cowardly or part of a corrupt elite.” Those wishing to stay, she wrote, have adopted a “bleak” narrative: “Be afraid… turn back while there's still time: you are hurtling towards a precipice.”

So where does Rowling stand? She makes it clear by the end of her post: “We take the benefits of EU membership for granted.” Rowling exhorts her fellow Brits to vote yes on the referendum—that is, to remain. “I glory in association with the cultures of my fellow Europeans. My values are not contained or proscribed by borders… We should be proud of our enduring desire to join together, seeking better, safer, fairer lives, for ourselves and for millions of others.”

And yet the most noteworthy part of her blog post, for the non-British audience, may be her comments on Donald Trump. Rowling, who has criticized Trump before while also defending his right to free speech, is unequivocal now. She calls Trump “a fascist in all but name.” He is another of the “villains” she uses to frame her argument. “He has the temperament of an unstable nightclub bouncer, jeers at violence when it breaks out at his rallies and wears his disdain for women and minorities with pride. God help America. God help us all,” she writes. (She even slipped in a jab at his “stubby fingers.”)

The campaign to leave the EU has played off of xenophobia much like Trump’s campaign in the U.S. has, she says. “It is dishonourable to suggest, as many have, that Leavers are all racists and bigots: they aren't and it is shameful to suggest that they are. Nevertheless, it is equally nonsensical to pretend that racists and bigots aren't flocking to the 'Leave' cause.”

Trump has expressed his support for the UK leaving the EU. And the supporters of the Brexit, Rowling writes, make their argument “with the arrogance of a bunch of mini-Trumps.”

If the latest polls are any indication, Rowling may not need to convince her countrymen so forcefully. British bookmakers now have the odds at 72% in favor of a vote to remain, well up from 60% last week.

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Daniel Roberts is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering sports business and technology. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite.

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