Donald Trump Just Directly Addressed the Possibility of an Oprah 2020 Run
President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Sunday night to address the idea of an Oprah Winfrey presidential run, noting that he hopes the “very insecure” media mogul runs so “she can be exposed and defeated.”
Trump said he had been watching a panel interview conducted by Winfrey on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” which aired Sunday.
“Just watched a very insecure Oprah Winfrey, who at one point I knew very well, interview a panel of people on 60 Minutes,” the president tweeted. “The questions were biased and slanted, the facts incorrect. Hope Oprah runs so she can be exposed and defeated just like all of the others!”
The panel to which Trump was referring included 14 Michigan voters — seven of whom had cast their ballots for Trump in the 2016 presidential election, while the other seven had not.
The voters — who also appeared on the program last year — were asked a series of questions about Trump, including queries about how they think he’s doing as president, as well as how they feel about his alleged inappropriate sexual behavior and his reported use of a vulgar comment to describe some African nations.
Speculation regarding a potential 2020 presidential run for Winfrey started last month following her acceptance speech at the 75th Golden Globe Awards.
Winfrey referenced the #MeToo movement, and spoke of a “culture broken by beautifully powerful men.” But she concluded with a bit of optimism, noting that “a new day … is on the horizon.” After her speech, it didn’t take long for liberal actors and actresses — as well as many of her fans — to suggest that she should run.
As The Western Journal reported, Trump addressed the speculation just two days later, saying that he would certainly beat the famed television host, though a potential match-up between the two of them would be “a lot of fun.”
“Yeah, I’ll beat Oprah. Oprah would be a lot of fun,” Trump told reporters. “I know her very well,” he added, prior to noting that before he went into politics, he and his family appeared on one of her “last shows.”
“No, I like Oprah,” he said, while clarifying, “I don’t think think she’s going to run.”
It’s not the first time Trump indicated that he admires Winfrey. In a June 2015 interview with ABC News, then-candidate Trump expressed similar sentiments, even going so far as to say he would “love” to have Winfrey as his running mate.
“I think Oprah would be great. I’d love to have Oprah,” Trump said. “I think we’d win easily, actually.”
Trump had the same idea 16 years earlier, when he was considering running for president in 1999 on the Reform Party ticket. At the time, CNN host Larry King asked Trump who his dream vice president would be.
“I love Oprah,” Trump responded, while smiling. “Oprah would always be my first choice.”
On Sunday’s broadcast of “60 Minutes,” Winfrey seemed to shoot down the rumors that she was planning to challenge Trump in 2020.
“I am actually humbled by the fact that people think that I could be a leader of the free world, but it’s just not in my spirit,” she said. “It’s not in my DNA.”
She added that she didn’t feel as though God was calling her to run.
“If God actually wanted me to run, wouldn’t God kind of tell me? And I haven’t heard that,” Winfrey stated.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
