Scott Adams, author of the comic strip "Dilbert," says he is endorsing Democrat Hillary Clinton for president — but not because he agrees with her policies.
Instead,
Adams writes on his blog, he fears personal harm — including death — could come to him from Clinton's supporters if he doesn't toe the line.
Adams has previously said that he believes Republican Donald Trump will
defeat Clinton in a landslide because of his superior power of persuasion. Since then, Clinton herself has "moved into the persuasion game — and away from boring facts and policies — with great success," Adams writes.
"This past week we saw Clinton pair the idea of President Trump with nuclear disaster, racism, Hitler, the Holocaust, and whatever else makes you tremble in fear," he continued.
That sort of fear can be persuasive, Adams says, and said he expects Clinton's poll numbers to improve this month until Trump manages to counter her.
But, he said, such talk is likely to trigger a race war in the United States.
"And I would be a top-ten assassination target in that scenario because once you define Trump as Hitler, you also give citizens moral permission to kill him," Adams said. "And obviously it would be okay to kill anyone who actively supports a genocidal dictator, including anyone who wrote about his persuasion skills in positive terms."
Though Adams said he doesn't support the policy ideas of Trump either, he still is labeled an "apologist" on Twitter — or "Joseph Goebbels" because he has written favorably about Trump's skills in persuasion.
Adams said he still believes Trump will beat Clinton in November because of his skills of persuasion, but he is looking out for himself by endorsing Clinton.
"Trump supporters don't have any bad feelings about patriotic Americans such as myself, so I'll be safe from that crowd," Adams said, "But Clinton supporters have convinced me — and here I am being 100% serious — that my safety is at risk if I am seen as supportive of Trump.