Don Winslow, a crime novelist, has announced that he is retiring after more than 30 years to focus on political advocacy and battling the MAGA movement.
The third installment of his Danny Ryan trilogy, “City in Ruins,” was released last month and will conclude both the series and his writing career, he informed numerous media outlets this week.
Winslow is no stranger to political activism, having previously uploaded a series of videos online criticizing former President Trump and other Republican officials. In one video titled “#DonaldTrumpLifetimeOfLies,” Trump is described as a “con-man” and a liar.
His videos, created with scriptwriter Shane Salerno, have received hundreds of thousands of views in recent years.
In an interview with The New York Times, Winslow acknowledged that his works are not reaching the audiences he seeks in a timely manner.
“There’s no way I can reach that many people with a novel,” he explained to The Times. “And the novels take so much time, in an era where really what is needed are much faster responses.”
Beginning in 2015, he stated that he felt compelled to “put more energy into the fight against” what he regards as “a neofascist movement in America led by a wannabe dictator.”
What is going on in the country right now, and what has happened since 2015? “I believe that my energies are better spent fighting, to be blunt, Donald Trump,” he told Rolling Stone.
In another interview with USA Today, Winslow stated that Trump is a “severe threat to our democracy,” and urged Americans to vote in local, state, and federal elections.
During his nearly 31-year literary career, Winslow has written 21 novels, numerous short stories for anthologies and periodicals, and essays in a variety of national publications.