Mark Zuckerberg, The Rock, Katy Perry And Oprah Winfrey Are All Thinking Of Running For President

Donald Trump has proven that you don’t have to be a career politician to successfully run for president, and so now a number of top celebrities are actually seriously thinking about running against him in 2020.  Unless Hillary Clinton runs again, the Democrats really don’t have an obvious choice, and so this next election cycle presents a unique opportunity for outsider candidates that may want to test the political waters.  In politics, timing is everything, and for celebrities at the peak of their popularity the 2020 election may be their best and only shot at the highest office in the land.

One name that keeps coming up over and over again is Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.  As Salon has detailed, he is already behaving very much like a presidential candidate…

Zuckerberg recently started his “personal challenge for 2017,” which is focused on meeting individuals in every state. Just last week Zuckerberg visited a Ford factory in Michigan and made an unexpected visit to Ohio where he was hosted by a family of Democrats that voted for Donald Trump, according to the Guardian. A few days later Zuckerberg was on the move to Indiana where he met with members of a fire department in Elkhart, and then he finished his trip in Wisconsin. He said he needs to visit about 30 states to complete the challenge by the end of the year.

David Plouffe, who served as campaign manager for Barack Obama, “joined the philanthropic Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, to lead policy and advocacy. Other politicians from both parties have also joined the organization,” according to Vanity Fair.

Zuckerberg also recently backtracked on his stance as an atheist. “I was raised Jewish and then I went through a period where I questioned things, but now I believe religion is very important,” Zuckerberg said. Of course, it’s quite difficult for someone to run for president and not believe in a God.

Because Facebook has become so immensely powerful, there are some that would suggest that going to the White House would actually be a step down for Zuckerberg.

So far, he seems to be the most serious of the “celebrity candidates”, but another that is getting quite a lot of attention right now is “The Rock” Dwayne Johnson.  During a recent interview with GQ, he said that a run for president was “a real possibility”…

So, after all that consideration, Johnson doesn’t hesitate when I ask him whether he honestly might one day give up his life as the highest-paid movie star on earth—which is unquestionably easier, more fun, and more lucrative than being president of the United States—in order to run for office. “I think that it’s a real possibility,” he says solemnly.

And this is not the first time he has made such a statement.  Even before the 2016 election, Johnson was openly talking about a political career

Last summer, Johnson, who was the highest paid actor of 2016, bringing home a whopping $64.5 million, told ABC’s “Good Morning America” co-host Michael Strahan that a political career is “very real” to him.

The “Baywatch” star said the idea of him becoming commander in chief “has become a legit thing to some people.” He said he will take the “temperature of the American people” as “time goes on.”

“If it is a very real, overwhelming, positive, strong, ‘We want you to run for president,’ and if I felt that I can step up to the plate and become a tremendous leader for our country and make a real difference and make change, I would do it,” he said at the time.

Of course if he continues to make more than 60 million dollars a year, it may be difficult to throw all of that away for the world of politics.

Katy Perry is another name that Democrats are throwing around right now.  She was more involved in Hillary Clinton’s campaign than just about any other major celebrity, and a message that she posted on Instagram has many of her followers wondering if Perry might step up to the plate herself in 2020

Perry was a constant presence on the campaign trail with Hillary Clinton, campaigning for the eventual Democratic nominee before the primaries began.

And perhaps all that political chatter got her thinking — why don’t I run for office myself? In July 2015, she posted an Instagram with Bill Clinton and George W. Bush with the caption “42, 43, 46?!”

If Perry were to run for president, one thing is quite likely: She’d run on a pro-Planned Parenthood platform. The singer donated $10,000 to the organization after the 2016 election.

Many liberals would love to see “the first female president” in 2020, and a lot of them are suggesting that Oprah Winfrey would be an ideal candidate.  In fact, Michael Moore suggested that she would be an excellent candidate just one week after the election

Democrats would be better off if they ran Oprah or Tom Hanks … why don’t we run beloved people?” Moore told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”

“We have so many of them,” he said. “The Republicans do this — they run Reagan and the Terminator and other people.” It was a reference to former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as former President Ronald Reagan.

“Why don’t we run somebody that the American people love and are really drawn to, and that are smart and have good politics and all that?” Moore said.

And remarks that Oprah made during an interview with Bloomberg’s David Rubenstein did nothing to dampen speculation about 2020

RUBENSTEIN: Have you ever thought that given the popularity you have—we haven’t broken the glass ceiling yet for women—that you could actually run for president and actually be elected?

WINFREY: I actually never thought– never considered the question, even the possibility. I just thought, oh, oh.

RUBENSTEIN: Because it’s clear you don’t need government experience to be elected president of the United States.

WINFREY: That’s what I thought. I thought, ‘Oh gee, I don’t have the experience, I don’t know enough.’ Now I’m thinking oh, oh.

But of course you don’t have to run for president to get involved with national politics.  Just this week we learned that actor Antonio Sabato Jr. has decided to run for Congress as a Republican

Actor Antonio Sabato Jr has decided to run for Congress after claiming he was blacklisted by Hollywood producers for his public support of President Donald Trump.

Sabato, 45,  will challenge US House Representative Julia Brownley, a Democrat representing the Westlake Village area in California, in the 2018 election according to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission on Monday.

His choice to run was confirmed by Republican strategist Charles Moran, according to the Los Angeles Times.

If they can do it, why can’t we?

Is there still room for ordinary citizens to step forward in this day and age, or do you have to be wealthy and powerful to run for office?

We can’t just sit back and wait for someone else to change the direction of our nation.  If we truly want to make a difference, now is the time for good men and good women all over the country to step up and take action.

President Oprah? Speculation Rises That The 2020 Election Will Feature An Epic Battle Between Donald Trump And Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey_receives_2013_Presidential_Medal_of_Freedom - Public DomainWhen Donald Trump originally announced that he was going to run for president, he said that his ideal choice for a running mate was Oprah Winfrey, but now he may be actually running against her in the 2020 election.  A recent episode of The David Rubenstein Show that featured an interview with Oprah Winfrey is creating a tremendous amount of buzz that Oprah Winfrey may throw her hat into the ring during the next election cycle.  This particular episode was taped back on December 12th, but it didn’t actually get aired on Bloomberg TV until last Tuesday.  You can see the portion of the interview in which Oprah is asked about her presidential aspirations on YouTube right here, and as you can see, she definitely sounds like someone that is very seriously thinking about running…

Prior to this last election, Oprah says that she never even considered the possibility of running, but Donald Trump’s victory in November made her realize that maybe she could do it too.  The following summary of the most important moments from the interview comes from Charisma News

“I actually never thought—never considered the question, even the possibility,” she said while smiling coyly. “I just thought, ‘Oh. Oh.'”

“Because it’s clear you don’t need government experience to be elected president of the United States,” Rubenstein interjected.

“That’s what I thought,” she replied. “I thought, Oh gee, I don’t have the experience, I don’t know enough. Now I’m thinking, Oh. Oh.”

When Oprah made these statements, she had to know that they would create a firestorm.

And that is definitely what is happening.  People are going absolutely crazy on Twitter at the thought that we could have “President Oprah” in 2020, and Matt Drudge is extremely enthusiastic about a Trump vs. Oprah race

In a tweet sent Wednesday morning, the reclusive journalist who broke the Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal said such a race would be one for the ages.

“Trump vs Oprah would be the most epic race in American history. MAKE THIS HAPPEN…” Drudge tweeted to his nearly half a million followers.

And this is certainly not the first time that it has been suggested that Oprah should run for president.  Just one week after the election, political activist Michael Moore mentioned her as a potential candidate

Democrats would be better off if they ran Oprah or Tom Hanks … why don’t we run beloved people?” Moore told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”

“We have so many of them,” he said. “The Republicans do this — they run Reagan and the Terminator and other people.” It was a reference to former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as former President Ronald Reagan.

“Why don’t we run somebody that the American people love and are really drawn to, and that are smart and have good politics and all that?” Moore said.

Needless to say, Oprah would make a horrible president.  Her political views are ultra-liberal, and she has no practical political experience whatsoever.

However, if she did run she would definitely be the front-runner for the Democratic nomination.  At the moment, Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren are considered to be the most likely opponents for Trump, and Oprah would almost certainly trounce either of them.

But will she actually do it?  Oprah’s friend Gayle King is saying that it is not going to happen

“I was in the audience that day and it was clearly a joke when she was playing with David because they have such a great rapport,” said Winfrey’s close pal and CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King early Thursday of a recent interview Oprah gave suggesting she was finally thinking of running for President. “But I also heard on the Oprah Winfrey show over the years you always have the right to change your mind but I would bet my first, second born and any unborn children to come, that ain’t never happening,” King emphatically added.

And hopefully it will not happen.

But the ironic thing is that the very first person that Donald Trump suggested as a potential running mate when he announced his candidacy in 2015 was Oprah Winfrey.  The following comes from the New York Post

Real estate mogul-turned-celebrity TV star Donald Trump already had an “Aha!” moment about his 2016 running mate.

After declaring his run for the White House Tuesday, Trump appeared on ABC and said Oprah Winfrey would complete his presidential dream ticket.

“I think Oprah would be great. I’d love to have Oprah,” Trump said. “I think we’d win easily, actually.”

I’ll bet you don’t remember that, do you?

And in his new book entitled “The Making of the President 2016“, Roger Stone reminds everyone that Trump actually floated the idea of Oprah as his running mate all the way back in 1999 during an interview with Larry King.  The following is an excerpt from Roger Stone’s new book that was posted on Infowars

Early in the interview, Trump dropped Bombshell Number One: “So I am going to form a presidential exploratory committee, I might as well announce that on your show, everyone else does, but I’ll be forming that and effective, I believe, tomorrow,” Trump told the crusty interviewer. “And we’ll see. I mean, we’re going to take a very good, strong look at it.”

And just minutes later, Larry went for it and asked him if he had a vice presidential candidate in mind. Trump hesitated briefly as if to ponder his answer and then stunned everyone including King – and no doubt Oprah herself. “Oprah. I love Oprah,” Trump said. “Oprah would always be my first choice. She’s a terrific woman. She is somebody that is very special. If she’d do it, she’d be fantastic. I mean, she’s popular, she’s brilliant, she’s a wonderful woman.” The following day the newspapers and TV news were filled with talk of Trump and Oprah.

I honestly don’t know what Trump was thinking, because Oprah Winfrey definitely does not belong in politics.

Even if Oprah does not run for president, Trump’s victory has a lot of other celebrities thinking that they could do the same thing that he did.  Other big names that have been floated as potential candidates in 2020 include Mark Zuckerberg, Kanye West, Mark Cuban and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

As you can see, we have entered a strange new era in American politics, and there is no telling what craziness we may see during the next election cycle.