Marianne Williamson says in debate she will fight Trump’s fear-mongering with love
As an outsider with no previous experience in government, author and activist Marianne Williamson positioned herself as the anti-Trump.
She didn’t have much time to speak at the Democratic debate on Thursday, 4:52 minutes to be exact, but she used her time to speak directly to the president.
“You have harnessed fear for political purposes and only love can pass that up,’’ Williamson said at the end of the debate. “So I, sir, I have a feeling you know what you’re doing. I will harness love for political purposes. I will meet you on that field.”
Williamson, who says she is running for president to bring a “moral and spiritual awakening” to America, tapped her writing talents for some memorable lines.
“If you think you’re going to beat Donald Trump by just having all these plans, you’ve got another thing coming,’’ she told her Democratic colleagues. “Because he didn’t win by saying he had a plan. He won by simply saying he would make America great again. We’ve got to get deeper than these superficial fixes — as important as they are.”
On healthcare, she said, “We don’t have a health care system in the United States. We have a sickness care system. We wait until somebody gets sick and then we talk about who’s going to pay for the treatment and how they’re going to be treated.”
She said the better question is why so many Americans are getting sick. She suggested “it has to do with chemical policies. It has to do with environmental policies.”
When the issue of criminal justice came up, Williamson interjected that it was time for Americans to pay reparations for slavery to black Americans and has proposed a $100 billion plan to make it happen.
“I do not believe that the average American is racist,’’ she said. “They are woefully undereducated about the history of racism in America.”
Williamson, 66, who is best known for being a spiritual counselor to Oprah Winfrey, has also provided some levity in the policy-saturated week leading up to the debates.
Moments before Wednesday night’s Democratic presidential debate began, her campaign sent an email urging journalists to consider a “healthy alternative” to a debate drinking game.
“Covering campaigns is a lot of work — as you know well,’’ she wrote. “So, you don’t always have time for self-care. And this is really really true this week.”
Her alternative involved a series of yoga poses to do while watching the debate. “Instead of downing a shot, do a downward dog,” the email said.
Mary Ellen Klas can be reached at meklas@miamiherald.com
This story was originally published June 28, 2019 at 12:35 AM.