This Season's Trump Card: Kathy Bates Responds To Playing Donald Trump On 'American Horror Story'

Roll out the stars and stripes because American Horror Story's politically charged season is only months away. While the veil of mystery still has Lady Justice blindfolded, more and more details on what #FX has in store are leaking out like a Clinton sex scandal. It seems like a match made in heaven, combining Donald Trump and the next season of #AmericanHorrorStory, but will it really happen?

Firstly, creator #RyanMurphy said that characters based on real-life politicians would NOT appear in the seventh season of his show, then ambiguously retracted that statement. The internet has responded with a lightbulb moment, citing Oscar-winning actress #KathyBates as the perfect actor to stick on some DayGlo tan and a ginger toupee.

Bates-Paulson 2020

Well, Bates would do anything for love, but she won't do that. The Misery actress definitely knows how to play an unhinged sociopath, but even she draws the line at playing the POTUS Cheeto. Speaking to The Hill, 68-year-old Bates responded to the rumors that she could be doing a Meryl and gender-flipping to play Donald:

"I know Ryan Murphy is doing something about the election. You know, my eyes popped open when he said that. No. I don’t think I’ll be playing Donald Trump. You know, I’m going to leave that to Alec Baldwin. I think he’s doing a smash job."

It comes after persistent rumors that the next season will be more focused on the 2016 election than we first thought. Some have called for Sarah Paulson to suit up as Hillary Clinton, and you could certainly imagine Jamie Lee Curtis playing Bill. However, Murphy has repeatedly told us that the election will just be a jumping off point. We should also be reminded that Horror Story isn't like Murphy's other show, American Crime Story, and isn't a reconstruction, instead using factual events sparingly.

White House Down

While we still know very little about the show's political agenda, we do know it will start on the night of the 2016 election. Perhaps it could kick off a Purge-style night of mayhem and murder, which would actually be a pretty clever twist on the formula. Murphy recently teased that although the likes of Trump and Clinton will be represented on our screens, don't expect them to be a large part of proceedings:

"[The new season] is about the election we just went through and what happened on that night and the fallout of that night, which to many people, from all sides of the camps is a horror story. And you know, that show is always so fun when it’s about the zeitgeist and what we’re doing now. It starts on election night is all I’ll say. It’s very scary, that night, for many people. It’s fun, you will like it."

Although the news puts the nail in the political coffin for Bates portraying Trump, the thought of the concept art alone is enough to send shivers down our spines — someone please get it drawn up ASAP. Alec Baldwin's niche of top Trump impersonator is currently safe (for now). Season 7 of the anthology horror will start filming in June, when Bates will once again return alongside other stars Paulson and Evan Peters.

(Source: The Hill/E!)