Oprah Winfrey 2020?
DES MOINES, Iowa —Oprah Winfrey’s impassioned call for “a brighter morning even in our darkest nights” at the Golden Globes has Democratic Party activists buzzing about the media superstar and the 2020 presidential race —even if it’s only a fantasy.
Even so, for Democrats in early voting states, and perhaps for a public that largely disapproves of President Donald Trump’s job performance, the notion of a popular media figure as a presidential candidate is not as strange as it once seemed, given the New York real estate mogul and reality TV star now in the White House.
“Look, it’s ridiculous —and I get that,” said Brad Anderson, Barack Obama’s 2012 Iowa campaign director. While he supports the idea of Winfrey running, it would also punctuate how Trump’s candidacy has altered political norms. “At the same time, politics is ridiculous right now.”
Winfrey’s speech as she accepted the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award on Sunday touched on her humble upbringing and childhood wonder in civil rights heroes.
But it was her exhortation of the legions of women who have called out sexual harassers —and her dream of a day “when nobody has to say ‘me too’ again” —that got some political operatives, in early voting states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, thinking Winfrey might be just what the Democrats need.
“I think we need more role models like her that are speaking to young women and trying to restore some hope. The election of Donald Trump was a devastating setback for little girls,” said Liz Purdy, who led Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 2008 New Hampshire presidential primary campaign.
Even Trump’s daughter Ivanka endorsed her message, if not a political future, in a tweet Monday. “Just saw @Oprah’s empowering and inspiring speech at last night’s #GoldenGlobes. Let’s all come together, women & men, & say #TIMESUP! #UNITED.”
The backlash on Twitter was swift, however, with actress Alyssa Milano and others jumping in to note that Ivanka’s father has been accused by several women of sexual harassment and was recorded bragging about sexual assault.
“Great!” Milano responded to Ivanka’s tweet. “You can make a lofty donation to the Time’s Up Legal Defence Fund that is available to support your father’s accusers.”
Winfrey, 64, has become a cultural phenomenon over the past 30-plus years, born into a poor home in Mississippi but breaking through as a television news and talk show personality in the 1980s. Over 30 years, she became the face of television talk shows, starred and produced feature films, and began her own network.
President Donald Trump says he would beat Oprah Winfrey in a presidential contest, but says: “I don’t think she’s going to run.”
Trump spoke Tuesday at the White House as he met with lawmakers on immigration. He said “Oprah would be a lot of fun.” But he said he knows her well and he doesn’t think she’ll run.
The president added that he appeared on one of her final shows and said he knows her “very well.”
Winfrey gave an impassioned speech Sunday night at the Golden Globes, which has sparked talk about whether she might run for president.
NBC tweeted a picture of a smiling Winfrey under the message, “Nothing but respect for our future president. #goldenglobes.”
It quickly attracted attention, including Donald Trump Jr.’s. The president’s son retweeted it, calling it “strange.”