Sherbrooke Record

President Winfrey? No way, says Trump: ‘I’ll beat Oprah’

- By Catherine Lucey THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

President Winfrey? No way, says political prognostic­ator Donald Trump. “I’ll beat Oprah,” the president declared flatly at a White House meeting Tuesday — though he quickly added, “I don’t think she’s going to run.”

Asked about all the presidenti­al speculatio­n suddenly swirling around Winfrey, the typically pugilistic Trump steered clear of nasty nicknames and colorful insults while sizing up such a potential celebrity showdown.

“Oprah would be a lot of fun,” said Trump, who added that he knows her “very well.”

Trump appeared on Winfrey’s longrunnin­g talk show in 1988 and again with his family in 2011, during her final season.

As Democrats encouraged Winfrey to consider a bid, her best friend, CBS News host Gayle King, said Tuesday that Winfrey is “intrigued” by the idea.

“She loves this country and would like to be of service in some way, but I don’t think she’s actively considerin­g it at this time,” King said, noting that she had spoken to Winfrey at length the night before. “I also know that after years of watching the Oprah show, you always have the right to change your mind.”

The presidenti­al buzz follows Winfrey’s impassione­d call for “a brighter morning even in our darkest nights” at the Golden Globes on Sunday night in a speech that left some viewers contemplat­ing the idea of the Democratic Party embracing a celebrity candidate of its own to challenge Trump in 2020. Trump, of course, was a businessma­n-turned-reality-television-star before his extraordin­ary political rise.

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