Seasoned political analyst John Podhoretz, not a member of the leftist fan-club, has news for the GOP.
Superstar Oprah Winfrey could take on Donald Trump in 2020, and she’s about the only person who could pull it off.
And his advice to Democrats who are serious about winning back the White House: get out of her way. His analysis is spot on.
The Donald didn’t win by setting his compass to conventional political norms; instead, he redefined them and did so in a way in which no one could quite recalibrate in time.
Oprah represents a sort of other-worldly star power that could equally upend convention and thereby go head to head with Trump like no traditional politician could.
If she chooses to, it could be a battle of the media titans.
Here’s more from NY Post…
On Sunday night’s “60 Minutes,” a panel of Michigan voters spent 20 minutes discussing their political differences on screen. It was a moving segment and a powerful one, but it wasn’t all that novel if you’ve been paying attention to the political divide over the past year. The power came not really from what the panelists were saying but who the moderator was: Oprah Winfrey.
Listening, asking, speaking without judgment, trying to find common ground — it was a superb performance by Oprah, and I use the word “performance” advisedly. She was dazzling in exactly the way that Oprah could always be dazzling, finding a tone appropriate for the moment without being heavy-handed.
If any figure in the United States bears watching over the next couple of years as our political culture continues the radical transformation that led to the election of Donald Trump, it’s Oprah. I believe she’s uniquely positioned, should she wish to commit herself, to seek the Democratic nomination for president and challenge Trump in 2020.
If you think that Trump can be beaten by a two-term governor of a Midwestern state with really good ideas about health care, or by a senator who really attracts young people, think again. The idea that a relatively conventional elected official will differentiate herself from Trump by dint of her seriousness or that an unconventional elected official can out-populist Trump is crazy.
If you need to set a thief to catch a thief, you need a star — a grand, outsized, fearless star whom Trump can neither intimidate nor outshine — to catch a star. We’re through the looking glass here. America is discarding old approaches in politics. Democrats will have to do the same to match the mood to the moment.
