To say most folks were a bit surprised when Donald Trump was elected president on November 8 would be like saying you’d be a tad caught off guard if a venomous viper leapt out of your screen right now and opened your jugular.
Trump’s successful campaign flew in the face of not only all conventional wisdom and methods of polling, but also common sense:
Surely, a 70-year-old reality star with no political experience and a bad habit of engaging in petty Twitter feuds could never be elected to arguably the most powerful office in the world, right?
But Trump’s campaign defied all reason and logic, and it may have permanently blurred the lines between the worlds of entertainment and politics.
Sure, actors, writers, athletes, and comedians have entered the political realm before with varying degrees of success, but never before had an American gone straight from Hollywood to the White House without first proving himself in a lower office.
Needless to say, it’s a development that’s got political analysts and celebrities alike wondering about the new possibilities presented by the age of Trump.
And one beloved A-lister who had previously ruled out a public office might be suddenly reconsidering her options.
In a recent interview on his Bloomberg Television series, interviewer David Rubinstein broached the topic of Oprah Winfrey following in the Donald’s footsteps:
“Have you ever thought that given the popularity you have, we haven’t broken the glass ceiling yet for women, that you could actually run for president and be elected?” Rubinstein asked the iconic media tycoon.
“I actually never thought that that was, I never considered the question even a possibility,” Winfrey answered.
She then paused and smiled at the audience as though experiencing a sudden revelation.
“I just thought, ‘Oh. Oh,” she explained.
“Right, because it’s clear that you don’t need government experience to be elected President of the United States, right?” Rubinstein added pointedly.
“That’s what I thought,” said Winfrey.
“I thought, ‘Oh gee, I don’t have the experience. I don’t know enough. I don’t…’ And now I’m thinking, ‘Oh. Oh.’”
Was the Queen of Daytime TV joking, or has Trump’s victory made her consider the possibility of throwing her hat in the ring in 2020?
Obviously, it might be a few years before we find out for sure, but we’d like to take this opportunity to encourage Oprah to go for it.
After all, if we’re gonna have a president who’s never held any sort of public office before, it might as well be one who enjoys giving out free cars.
Now, that’s what we call an auto bailout!