Marianne Williamson is the author of new-age books such as A Woman’s Worth and A Course in Weight Loss: 21 Spiritual Lessons for Surrendering Your Weight Forever. She is Oprah Winfrey’s spiritual guide. She has called herself a “bitch for God.” Oh, and she also wants to be president of the United States. Her campaign for the 2020 Democratic nomination is, she says, for people who “want to dig deeper into the questions we face as a nation.”
If you want to dig deeper into how Williamson is qualified to be president, I suggest you stop excavating immediately. We don’t ask questions like that any more. While there used to be a crazy idea that one needed years in public office to consider putting oneself forward, Donald Trump has democratised the playing field. His ascendance has made people realise you don’t need well-considered policies, experience or even a rudimentary grasp of grammar to become president. You simply need charisma, celebrity and cash. Williamson would seem to have all three. Indeed, it seems inevitable that a new-age author would be running in the 2020 election.
This isn’t to say that Williamson has no governmental experience. In 2014, she ran for Congress as an independent. Despite the support of celebrities such as Alanis Morissette, she lost. While that must have been a jagged little pill to swallow, it hasn’t stopped the 66-year-old from trying for president. And, in fact, she has got some good policies up her spiritual sleeve, including universal health care and $100bn in reparations for slavery.
Williamson has also got a rather Trumpian way with words. On Thursday, she tweeted: “Traditional politics is old-think & its purveyors project onto a whole person approach something weird, fringe, unqualified. In fact, what’s weird, fringe & unqualified is a conversation that remains on the level of the externals...” She also channelled Trump’s bluster in an interview with CNN. When the network asked how she was planning a path to victory, Williamson replied: “My strategy isn’t strategy.” Which sounds like an extremely zeitgeisty strategy to me.
