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Oprah can defeat Trump in 2020 — here’s the way

by Brent Budowsky, opinion contributor - 01/09/18 10:45 AM ET

Oprah Winfrey can defeat Donald Trump not by running for president, a position she is unqualified to hold despite her many attributes, but by following the example of billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer, who pledged to donate at least $30 million to elect a Democratic Congress in the coming midterm elections.

The recent news cycle mania touting Oprah for president is little more than fake news. It is no criticism of her to suggest that America needs a president who has strong experience essential to governing the nation and commanding our military, and that Americans are unlikely to want another entertainer to lead the nation in the post-Trump years.

{mosads}Democrats, for better or worse, do not suffer from a shortage of potential candidates for president in 2020. Oprah’s speech at the Golden Globe awards was stirring, her achievements throughout her career have been brilliant, and her nobility of purpose throughout her life is inspirational. She has done much for America, and her greatest contribution to the American future may well lie ahead.

What Democrats need in January 2018 is not another candidate for president, but more wealthy Democrats to step up with real money in support of powerful political change that will end the monopoly of one-party Republican rule of the federal government.

Last October, I wrote that while I respect and admire the contribution that Steyer has made to progressive causes, it would be far more valuable for him to support Democratic candidates than to pressure Democrats to support impeachment of Trump at this moment.

At that time, my point was that Doug Jones had a fair chance of defeating Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race and that it would be a political shot heard around the world if Jones actually won.

In Alabama, it turned out that NextGen America, a national group supported by Steyer, provided support to efforts to mobilize black voters to help elect Jones. Now he has upped the ante.

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This week, Steyer announced that he will not run for office in 2018, but will provide at least $30 million to support Democrats in the midterms, with a major new effort by NextGen America to register hundreds of thousands of millennial voters in key states.

Every American concerned about the Trump presidency should give Steyer and NextGen America a standing ovation.

NextGen is playing an invaluable role by registering and mobilizing large numbers of new voters, one of the most important causes serving democracy in America in 2018.

The way for Oprah Winfrey to rise up for the values she believes in and defeat Donald Trump is not to run for president in 2020 but to put the full force of her commitment, passion, talent and wealth behind electing Democrats in 2020.

Imagine the impact Oprah could have making $50 million donations that empower candidates and groups working to elect Democrats to the House and Senate in 2018.

Imagine the impact she could have putting her passion, talent and vast appeal behind campaigns to register a million young, black, female and Hispanic voters to take America back in the 2018 midterms.

Across the nation, there is a tidal wave forming of voters who believe that the damage Trump is doing to America must be reversed. From the enormous turnout of black voters in the Alabama Senate race to the women in Hollywood standing up for the rights of women everywhere, there is a huge surge of activism and engagement that can build and shape a better future for America.

Oprah Winfrey can play a critical role in supporting, promoting and helping to lead this movement not by running to defeat Trump as a candidate in the 2020 presidential campaign, but by going all-out to stop and defeat Trump by electing a Democratic House and Senate in the 2018 midterm elections.

Brent Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), who was chief deputy majority whip of the U.S. House of Representatives. He holds an LLM in international financial law from the London School of Economics.