Why Piers Morgan Urges Oprah to Run for President

Oprah Winfrey’s acceptance speech for the Cecil B. DeMille Award inspired a wave of optimism last night, and to controversial political commentator Piers Morgan, is might have signaled greater ambitions.

Winfrey’s nine minute long speech hit all the right notes — inspiring, hopeful and critical where it needed to be. To Morgan, who is an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump, it was an unmistakable manifesto of Winfrey’s ambitions to run for President of the United States.

“Make no mistake, Oprah Winfrey‘s astonishing speech at last night’s Golden Globes was the moment she told the world: ‘I’m ready to be President of the United States,’” Morgan wrote in a column on DailyMail this morning.

Morgan cited many other stars who believe Oprah‘s speech was practically a campaign announcement, as well as some inside sources supporting the rumor. He also gave his own endorsement of her qualifications.

“She’s an entirely self-made billionaire who fought her way out of abject poverty and abuse to become the biggest star in America. She’s got a massively generous heart, giving away a rumoured $500 million to charity. She’s whip-smart, well read and connected, very warm and funny, knows how to run things, and genuinely cares about people. She’s also a natural-born winner.”

Morgan then shared the most surprising endorsement of all: President Donald Trump himself once named Winfrey as his top choice for a running mate.

“In 1999, Trump appeared on CNN to talk about a possible presidential run,” Morgan recalls in his article. “‘Do you have a vice presidential candidate in mind?’ he was asked. ‘Oprah,’ Trump replied immediately. I love Oprah, she would always be my first choice. She’s a great woman, somebody very special. She’s popular, she’s brilliant, an exceptional woman. If she’d do it, she’d be fantastic.’”

Trump mentioned Winfrey again at the very beginning of his campaign in 2015. To Morgan, Trump’s presidency is precisely why he believes Winfrey should run in 2020.

“If Oprah does run in 2020, then Trump will face someone who is almost as rich as him, as big a star as him and massively more popular than him. He’ll also face an opponent with a crossover appeal to all sections of American society, a ferocious will to win to match his own, and more than enough self-confidence to handle his inevitable taunts and tweet onslaughts.”

The prospect of President Oprah Winfrey is gaining a lot of buzz today, and while Morgan isn’t the only one endorsing her, he may be the most surprising one.