Her first debate performance may have made her stand out, but it also made her the subject of Twitter memes and roundtable jokes. Now, 2020 presidential candidate Marianne Williamson says she plans to reverse that trend by presenting herself as a serious candidate in next week’s Democratic Party presidential debates.
Speaking with USA Today, the wellness self-help guru and former Oprah guest said that she hopes to change up her delivery this time around so that it would reflect more of her substance.
“I hope that this time my delivery will be more aligned with my substance,” Williamson told the outlet. “I don’t regret the substance of anything I said, but I understand that my delivery made me vulnerable to mockery.”
“Every day on the campaign trail is preparation. Every day you’re thinking about issues, writing about issues, talking about issues, learning about issues,” she continued. “It’s a continuous process. To me that’s the best preparation.”
“I need to just be myself,” she concluded.
Marianne Williamson rose to prominence in the early ’90s as a regular guest on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” where she would often preach her new age philosophy about love, healing, and external forces that people can harness if they just love each other more (or something like that).
At the first Democratic debate in June, she gave America a small glimpse into her psyche when she declared that she would harness the power of love to defeat President Trump’s harnessing of fear:
I’m sorry we haven’t talked more tonight about how we’re going to beat Donald Trump. I have an idea about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is not going to be beaten just by insider politics talk. He’s not going to be beaten just by somebody who has plans. He’s going to be beaten by somebody who has an idea what the man has done. This man has reached into the psyche of the American people and he has harnessed fear for political purposes.
So, Mr. President — if you’re listening — I want you to hear me please: You have harnessed fear for political purposes and only love can cast that out. So I, sir, I have a feeling you know what you’re doing. I’m going to harness love for political purposes. I will meet you on that field, and sir, love will win.
While her performance did inspire mockery, people also fell somewhat in love with her persona and couldn’t get enough of it. Republicans even began donating to her campaign just to keep her on the debate stage.
“Please, calling on all Republicans to go to https://www.marianne2020.com/ and donate $1 to keep this vibrant democrat on the debate stage. One debate performance is not enough,” GOP strategist Jeff Roe tweeted at the time.
Some liberals have warned that Democrats should not ignore her candidacy, arguing that she’s the perfect embodiment of a left-wing Donald Trump — an ultra-feminine public figure who appeals to wellness-oriented suburban housewives more effectively than a Marxist radical like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
Rolling Stone referred to her as the “cosmic sorceress we need now,” while Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times warned Democrats to “ignore Marianne Williamson at your own peril.”