Marianne Williamson: I am not a ‘wacky new-age nutcase’

Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson pushed back against what she described as a false narrative surrounding her, insisting that she is not a “wacky new-age nutcase.”

“The establishment media sees me as a real threat to the status quo,” Williamson told Hill.TV during an interview that aired on Tuesday.

“People are so invested in creating this false narrative about me as the ‘crystal lady,’ ‘wacky new-age nutcase.’ If you really think about it, I must be doing something right that they’re so scared,” she added.

Williamson, a self-help author and spiritual advisor to Oprah Winfrey, insisted that the U.S. doesn’t need another traditional candidate who will push incremental change, arguing that the current economic system is fundamentally broken.

“People say our system is broken — it’s not just broken, it’s corrupt to the core. It’s not just that our economy isn’t working for everyone, it’s that our economy has become completely taken over by corporate forces,” she said.

Williamson also said that one way to fix America and defeat President Trump is through a “spiritual awakening.”

“This president is not just a politician — this president is a phenomenon and an insider politics game will not defeat him,” she said. “The only thing that will defeat this phenomenon is another phenomenon and the phenomenon that will defeat him is a spiritual awakening in this country.”

The long-shot candidate is set to take the stage Tuesday night in Detroit along with political heavyweights Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

Williamson didn’t speak much during the first Democratic debate last month, but when she did, she captured the attention of Twitter, inspiring an onslaught of jokes and memes. She was also one of the most searched-for candidates on Google during the debate. 

Leading up to the second round of debates, the self-help guru said she hopes to be taken more seriously by the public, noting that voters take a candidate’s character into consideration as well as their policies.

“I want the American people to see who I am as a woman — I think people are watching not only for what your policies are, but who you are,” she said.

—Tess Bonn