If Oprah Winfrey does decide to run for president in 2020, she has three powerful backers in Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks and Ellen DeGeneres.
The co-stars of Steven Spielberg’s The Post appeared together on The Ellen DeGeneres Show Tuesday where they responded enthusiastically to the idea of a Winfrey campaign.
“You were in the room, obviously, when Oprah, our future president — I mean, what a speech,” DeGeneres said to her guests, referring to Winfrey’s galvanizing Golden Globes appearance, as they and the audience applauded in support.
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“What a speech, a barn-burner,” Streep replied. When DeGeneres informed her that Winfrey’s partner Stedman Graham said she would “absolutely do it,” Streep added, “Wow, where do I send the check?”
Hanks, meanwhile, joked that while Winfrey was speaking, the water in the pool outside at the Beverly Hills separated. “She did part the waters there, it was very, very impressive.”
Turning more serious, Streep said Oprah made her “realize that we thirst for” that “elevated, aspirational, can-do, optimistic attachment to the principles of our country.”
“Caring of people,” DeGeneres added, “and paying attention to who’s watching, these young girls that are watching and actually knowing that words have power.”
It was left unsaid that this is not the feeling they get when the current president of the United States speaks.
“She launched a rocket tonight. I want her to run for president,” Streep said, even more directly on the night of the Globes to a reporter from The Washington Post. “I don’t think she had any intention [of declaring]. But now she doesn’t have a choice.”
And on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Monday night, she specifically pushed back on the notion that we should not have a Hollywood celebrity follow Donald Trump as president. Echoing Seth Meyers’ push to have Hanks as Winfrey’s running mate, she said. “You could have The Rock as the Joint Chiefs of Staff, you could have Harrison Ford running Defense.”
So far, at least, Streep has not nominated herself for office. But if you recall, it was her speech — and her direct attacks on Trump — at last year’s Golden Globes that sparked speculation that she could be a worthy challenger for the president in 2020.
