If you’re like me–by which I mean a raging Harry Potter nerd–one of your favorite games is sorting people into Hogwarts houses.
If you’re like me–by which I mean a raging Harry Potter nerd–one of your favorite games is sorting people into Hogwarts houses. Are they a Gryffindor? A Ravenclaw? A Hufflepuff, which is totally not an insult? (While I would be happy to explain why Hufflepuff is actually the best house, that’s a conversation for another article.) Or, well…
However, this is not the first recorded instance of someone trying to sort politicians into fictional wizarding school houses. For example, some dude who I would totally buy a beer has sorted literally every president in American history. While I would argue that literally every President of the United States should actually be in Slytherin by dint of the fact that they’re the friggin’ President of the United States, that’s neither here nor there.
In 2005, an enterprising soul polled Harry-Potter-reading Americans about sorting prominent politicians of the day. (If you really want to wax nostalgic, the article talks about how excited everyone is about the sixth Harry Potter book coming out.) President George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton were both sorted into Slytherin; then-First Lady Laura Bush was sorted into Hufflepuff. More importantly, sixty percent of respondents said that they would vote Hermione for president, proving that Harry Potter fans have outstanding taste.
Anyway. While this chipper tweet was hardly the first time folks had sorted politicians into Hogwarts houses, this probably was the first time that author J.K. Rowling decided to publicly weigh in. To preface: J.K. is not a fan of the current administration. She posted this the day after the election:
We stand together. We stick up for the vulnerable. We challenge bigots. We don't let hate speech become normalised. We hold the line. https://t.co/ro9AkRSc9Q
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) November 9, 2016
Anyway, here was her response:
You've got to get the letter before you put on the hat, Oliver. https://t.co/KFvRtrwdpy
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 27, 2017
Next: Daniel Radcliffe on Returning to Harry Potter: Never Say Never
What’s the word for Wizarding burn, again? Oh, yeah: incendio!