Tuesday, January 09, 2018

Oprah And Trump -- Similarities And Differences

Ed. Note: I will refer to Oprah Winfrey as Oprah, and Donald Trump as Trump. It is easier than writing first and last names for each and I am using the most commonly recognized name for each.

First, the similarities: Both are largely self-made. More so for Oprah, since Trump inherited vast wealth. He would not be and have been, a nationally known figure for decades had he lived comfortably off of his inheritance though. Both are almost universally known, due to decades-long media exposure.

The most obvious differences are in their public personas: Trump's is brash and confident, Oprah is also confident, but her most (to me) defining characteristics are being likable and comforting.

The whole point of this is to set the stage for a comparison of their political prospects:

A while before the last election, the main push for Trump seemed to come from Democrats. The idea being that he could disrupt the crowded field of Republicans and if he won the nomination, he would surely lose. I never got a good read on what they thought or if they even considered that Trump could win. I have to suspect that he would be quickly labeled as racist, sexist, anti-Semite and dim-witted/insane--because that is how they have labeled every Republican president in my lifetime.

What I see right now from Republicans is the opposite: Oprah seems more likely to win the presidency than any other Democrat out there. And Republicans hope she runs. To us, we would rather have a Republican president; but if we get a Democrat, Oprah would be a better president than any other Democrat who could win.

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