Oprah Winfrey stokes speculation about a White House run against Trump after op-ed says she’s the Democrats’ best hope
Democrats have the perfect weapon to take down Donald Trump in 2020, according to a conservative columnist: Oprah.
The famed black media proprietor and TV host was thrown into the political mix on Thursday when an op-ed in the New York Post suggested she is ‘uniquely positioned, should she wish to commit herself, to seek the Democratic nomination for president and challenge Trump in 2020.’
John Podhoretz, a never-Trump advocate and former speechwriter for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, reword essay on Twitter – and Oprah answered.
‘Thanks for your VOTE of confidence!’ she wrote back in a tweet.
Podhoretz replied: ‘Give it a shot, what, would it kill you?’
Winfrey starred Sunday in a ’60 Minutes’ segment that had her conducting a focus group of Michigan voters, assessing the range of their political opinions.
Asked about impressions of Trump, their answers ranged from ‘every day I love him more and more’ to ‘he’s a horrible president.
Oprah listened, reflected their answers, and tried not to judge.
Podhoretz wrote that she is the Trump’s ‘mirror image.’
‘Of course, she’s female and he’s male; she’s America’s generous aunt and he’s America’s crazy uncle.
‘And yes, she’s black and he’s white, she’s liberal and he’s whatever he is.’
The columnist later chuckled on Twitter that ‘Trumpkins’ – his derisive nickname for the president’s fans, have been ’emailing me to say my idea Oprah would be strong in ’20 is crazy because she has no experience.’
This isn’t the first time the idea of a Winfrey-headed presidential ticket has made news.
Oprah told Bloomberg in March that before Trump won the 2016 election, she thought she was unqualified to be president – but not anymore.
‘I actually never thought that that was – I never considered the question, even a possibility,’ she said.
But when reality-show icon Trump beat longtime politician Hillary Clinton, she said, ‘I just thought, “Oh! Oh!”‘
‘I thought, “Oh, gee, I don’t have experience. I don’t know enough. I don’t.”