An Entertainer Trump Can Relate To

We read in Raw Story

The View” co-host Meghan McCain warned Georgia’s Stacey Abrams should “be careful” accepting campaign assistance from Oprah Winfrey — and pouted when her fellow panelists unanimously disagreed.

I don't see any pouting but you can be the judge:

The Democratic gubernatorial candidate got a boost this week when Winfrey knocked on doors to campaign for her and delivered a powerful speech to encourage black and other minority voters to head to the polls, but McCain said that might actually hurt Abrams.

“Nationalizing yourself is always tenuous territory, because you don’t want to look like you’re someone who celebrities and East Coast elites like, and you’re not going around your constituents,” McCain said.

Co-host Joy Behar immediately pointed out a flaw in her logic.

“One of the biggest East Coast elites, Donald Trump, won,” she said.

Good point from Behar, who through the years has been the most lucid liberal on the program. However

McCain insisted the president was a unique case, and she warned other candidates not to accept help from celebrities.

“Donald Trump is a different case,” she said. “I’m telling you traditional candidates — I think it’s something Beto O’Rourke should be concerned right now, as well. I think when you look like you care too much about celebrity endorsements, especially after you haven’t been elected for first time, you see people like Eric Cantor, Wendy Davis, Kelly Ayotte — these are people who nationalize themselves too much.”

McCain is right, if she is suggesting that in the long term, support from pop stars helps reinforce the naive perception of the Democratic Party as elitist. However, in the short term, a widely respected (however unjustified) Oprah Winfrey helps in fund-raising and in bringing out the vote.

Disagreeing with McCain (and myself)

“I think Oprah is in a class by herself,” (Ana) Navarro said. “So many of us grew up with her in our living rooms. What made Oprah so successful is how relatable she is.”

Winfrey is not in a class by herself. She is in the Donald J. Trump class of fabulously wealthy television stars able to get over on a whole lot of people. Nonetheless, Abby Huntsman maintained

It motivates people to get out and vote. That story that she told, that moved me. That would get me off the couch. I agree with all of you guys that Oprah, it's different than a Miley Cyrus or a Katy Perry, who I love, but they're not going to get me out to vote. What's different about Oprah, we let her into our home for decades.

Huntsman and others let Winfrey into their home and thankfully, by the miracle of video, we can now be let into one of the star's six homes:

Relatable, indeed. For that matter, it appears Winfrey can relate to the uber-wealthy star in the White House. Already spectacularly wealthy, Winfrey in 2015 bought a 10% share of Weight Watchers, began doing commercials touting (without mentioning her ownership) her own success on the diet, and watched as the company's profits soared. Not surprisingly

"I could sense, maybe I'm wrong, but I could sense from Donald Trump's body language even when he came out for the acceptance speech, that brotha has been humbled by this whole thing,” she said of his election victory.

She added: “I think it's a humbling process that now you literally have the weight of the world on your shoulders.”

Don't be shocked. In the past 10-12 years, Winfrey has extended her endorsement to a few office-seekers, but working (for whatever reason) only for Barack Obama, Cory Booker, and Stacey Abrams.

Even now Oprah Winfrey claims that she's a political independent, denying that she is a registered Democrat. In that, she is honest and reliable.

Share |