Oprah Winfrey's rousing Golden Globes speech as prompted calls for her potential 2020 presidential bid.(HANDOUT/REUTERS)
Bring it on — the White House says it’s not afraid of Oprah Winfrey potentially taking on President Trump in 2020.
“We welcome the challenge, whether it be Oprah Winfrey or anybody else,” Deputy White House Press Secretary Hogan Gidley told reporters aboard Air Force One Monday.
“Regardless of who's on the ballot, regardless who decides to run against this President, they are going to have to face a President who has record-setting achievements in record-setting time.”
Winfrey got political tongues wagging with a rousing five-minute speech at the Golden Globes Sunday night calling for the end of women being victims of sexual harassment and saying a “new day is on the horizon.”
Social media quickly erupted calling on the TV legend to announce her presidential run with many using the hashtag “#Oprah2020.”
Gidley wouldn’t give the White House reaction to the speech or say whether Trump watched it.
Sources close to the former talk show host told CNN some of her confidants have been urging Winfrey to run for office.
Conversations about a potential presidential run were brought up months ago, one of the sources said, adding that Winfrey hasn’t yet made a decision about running.
But in June, Winfrey said she had no interest in running for public office.
“I will never run for public office,” she told the Hollywood Reporter. “That’s a pretty definitive thing.”
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who has been mentioned as a potential 2020 presidential candidate herself, praised Winfrey’s speech as “powerful.”
“I’m really grateful to what she said and I think she’s a real leader and I think her voice is powerful and important,” Gillibrand told Spectrum News. “Whatever she wants to do, she should do.”
President Donald Trump speaks at the American Farm Bureau Federation annual convention on Jan. 8, 2018.(MARK HUMPHREY/AP)
A host of pollsters, Democratic consultants and political scientists said she could be a formidable candidate.
“I’ve told people that after Trump, I take everyone seriously,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center of Politics.
Added Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College poll: “There’s no doubt she’s the talk of the town after (Sunday) night.”
“The question is not her effectiveness,” Miringoff said. “The question becomes does the Democratic party down the road go in the direction of someone who is not a seasoned politician.”
Democratic political consultants certainly weren’t willing to dismiss the idea of Oprah 2020.
“I don’t think it’s far-fetched at all,” said Phil Singer, a Democratic operative who worked on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential primary campaign. “I’ve heard crazier names mentioned, some of whom are already in politics.”
Singer said a potential Winfrey candidacy would have to be assessed through two different windows--as a candidate and if she’s ready to be the leader of the free world if she wins.
“As a candidate, it’s a no-brainer,” Singer said. But becoming President with no prior governmental experience “is not something to be sneezed at, particularly given the current occupant of the White House,” he said.
Peter Kauffmann, a Democratic consultant who is a past deputy press secretary for the Democratic National Committee, said Winfrey has a lot of characteristics that would make her an attractive candidate, but also mentioned her lack of governmental experience.
Kauffmann called Winfrey a self-made successful businesswoman who has the ability to rally people and get them excited, “which is something we really need.”
“She’s a person from the celebrity sphere that is everything Trump’s not,” he added. “She has the smarts to be a policy wonk, but she hasn’t demonstrated the 20-year commitment to sitting down and discussing how government can better people’s lives. ”
Sources close to the former talk show host told CNN some of her confidants have been urging the media mogul to run for office.(BEN GABBE/GETTY IMAGES FOR TRIBECA FILM FE)
And then there’s the question about whether the country after Trump will be looking for another celebrity candidate — even one who has such a widespread and loyal fanbase as Winfrey.
“We don't know if (Trump’s election) is a new normal or an aberration, so therefore we don’t know what the next chapter will be like,” Miringoff said.
Sabato added that “generally speaking, when Americans replace a President they pick someone very different — but it doesn’t have to be that way.”
Democratic pollster Jefrey Pollock, who worked for Super PACs helping Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and President Barack Obama’s re-election in 2012, was skeptical about a Winfrey candidacy.
“Democratic primary voters are traditionally more interested in experience,” Pollock said. “They haven’t looked at government outsiders with the same kind of passion.”
But he admits that “when you see someone like Oprah, people say ‘wow, there’s something there.’ Does that mean she’s running? It all seems like Hollywood palace intrigue to me.”
Veteran Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf, who worked on President Bill Clinton's campaign, was even more skeptical.
"The question is who is she shilling for?" he said. "Is she helping the Clintons who would love to kill (politically) Gillibrand?"
On the other side of the aisle, GOP pollster John McLaughlin, who worked on Trump’s campaign, said Winfrey could be a formidable candidate if she’s willing to give up her valuable business commitments.
“She’s a very tough woman and she has a great story to tell, but it’s different when you cross that political threshold— it gets very rough,” McLaughlin said, adding he still believes Trump would beat her.
- ny news
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