Before we get to the 2020 presidential election, we have this year’s midterms to get through, but that doesn’t mean that people aren’t looking ahead to the possibilities for the 2020 presidential election anyway.
At the recently held Golden Globes awards ceremony, Oprah Winfrey delivered a rousing speech that had many talking about the possibility of her running for president. Her speech focused on the “#MeToo” movement, which aims to empower women who have experienced sexual harassment or assault to come forward with their stories. As a part of this broad new public conversation of the issue of sexual misconduct, individuals ranging from the disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein to media personalities like Charlie Rose have been outed.
The president himself has now responded to the possibility of Winfrey running for the office that he currently occupies, dismissing the whole thing and asserting that he believes that if she were to run, he could beat him.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday after a meeting with lawmakers from both parties about immigration, Trump commented:
‘Yeah, I’ll beat Oprah. Oprah would be a lot of fun. You know, I did one of her last shows — she had Donald Trump… her last week, and she had Donald Trump and my family, it was very nice. I like Oprah — I don’t think she’s going to run… I know her very well.’
Check out video of his comments below.
Trump: I like Oprah, I don’t think she’s gonna run from CNBC.
Trump’s comments come after the White House already responded to rumors that Winfrey would run for president in the form of comments that White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley offered to reporters while aboard Air Force One on Monday.
Gidley commented:
‘We welcome the challenge, whether it be Oprah Winfrey or anybody else.’
Check out a report from NBC about Winfrey’s stirring speech at last Sunday’s Golden Globes below.
There would be an obvious and clear contrast between the two candidates should Trump and Winfrey end up facing off in the 2020 presidential election. While the speech that has the nation buzzing about the possibility of Winfrey running for president was based on female empowerment, with the talk show icon asserting at one point that a “new day is on the horizon,” the sitting president, Donald Trump, stands credibly accused of sexual assault.
It’s not as though the president has actually sought to lend his support to the “#MeToo” movement in the face of these allegations.
Ironically, Trump’s daughter Ivanka has done so, tweeting a message in support of Winfrey’s message after the Golden Globes — and completely ignoring the relevance of Winfrey’s message to her father.
Just saw @Oprah‘s empowering & inspiring speech at last night’s #GoldenGlobes. Let’s all come together, women & men, & say #TIMESUP! #United https://t.co/vpxUBJnCl7
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) January 9, 2018
Winfrey has generally been non-committal in answering the question of whether or not she would run for president in 2020, so for now, we will have to wait and see what happens. Her longtime friend Gayle King commented Tuesday morning on CBS that she thinks Oprah is “intrigued” by the idea of running for president in 2020, adding fuel to the fires of speculation.
Featured Image via Screenshot from the Video
