Oprah’s friends say that she’s “actively thinking” about running for US President.
The prospect of Oprah Winfrey succeeding Donald Trump in the White House comes in the wake of a powerful speech delivered at the Golden Globes on Sunday night.
Oprah Winfrey, the former host of the phenomenally successful talk show in her own name, is believed to be “actively thinking” about running for US President in the next election in 2020.
Two friends of Winfrey, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely, told CNN on Monday that she is “actively thinking” about running for office as a Democratic candidate in two years’ time.
Talk of Winfrey becoming the first female President of the United States comes after she delivered an extraordinarily well-received speech at the Golden Globes ceremony on Sunday night.
In fact, this development might not even surprise some people. President Trump even championed Oprah’s political credentials during an old interview on CNN.
In an interview with Larry King, Donald Trump said that his first choice for vice president would be Oprah Winfrey.
The conversation took place in 1999 and Trump was asked about the likelihood of him running for office. At the time, Trump said that Oprah would be the perfect vice president.
“I love Oprah, Oprah would always be my first choice. Your competitor, right? She’s really a great woman. She’s a terrific woman. She’s somebody that’s very special If she’d do it, she’d be fantastic. She’s popular, she’s brilliant and she’s a wonderful woman,” said Trump.
With regards to Winfrey’s speech at the Golden Globes, the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements, both of which rail against sexual harassment of women in the movie industry and the covering-up of the issue in Hollywood for years, formed the basis for her speech at the ceremony.
Many viewers, however, interpreted the language used during the speech as a sign that Winfrey had eyes on the most powerful job on the planet.
https://twitter.com/goldenglobes/status/950209620030627840
“For too long women have not been heard or believed, if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men, but their time is up… Their time is up,” she said.
“I want all the girls watching here now to know that a new day is on the horizon, and when that new day finally dawns it will be because of a lot of magnificent women – many of whom are right here in this room tonight – and some pretty phenomenal men fighting to make sure they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say ‘Me Too’ again.”
I will now officially divide time like this : Everything that happened before @Oprah speech : Everything that will happen after.
— Reese Witherspoon (@ReeseW) January 8, 2018
Oprah’s representatives did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment and in the recent past, in an interview with Gayle King on CBS This Morning, she said: “There will be no running for office of any kind for me.”
Winfrey, however, was a high-profile supporter of Hillary Clinton’s campaign for office in 2016 and has publicly discussed the possibility of a female president in the past.
Her long-time partner, meanwhile, Stedman Graham, suggested to an LA Times reporter that “she would absolutely do it” and that “it’s up to the people”.
We’d love to know what the current incumbent in the White House would make of her chances.
