After declaring his hatred for pop star Taylor Swift, Donald Trump has now aimed at fellow billionaire Oprah Winfrey following the mogul’s interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.
On Sept. 21, the Republican presidential candidate blasted the OWN founder on his Truth Social platform, which he launched in 2022 after being banned on multiple social media platforms.
Trump mentioned that he was a guest on Winfrey’s highly rated, long-running television show before it finished in 2011.
“A long time ago, Oprah Winfrey asked me to do her last Network Television Show. The final week of her show was a big deal, and it was my honor, with my family, to do it,” the former president wrote.
“When I watched her interview yesterday with a woman who is destroying, through her complete and total incompetence, America, I couldn’t help but think this isn’t the real Oprah,” he continued on Truth Social.
“Kamala looked really foolish, couldn’t answer the simplest of questions on Inflation, the Cost of Goods, or our very porous and dangerous Border—No leader there, and Oprah just wanted to crawl under a table!” Trump noted.
Oprah Winfrey, 70, and Donald Trump, 78, have a long public history. While on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 1988, Trump discussed possibly running for president of the United States.
“Probably not,” Trump answered when Winfrey asked if he had an interest in seeking the White House. Additionally, the New York City native then admitted he would “never want to rule it out.”
In 1999, the real estate mogul told CNN’s Larry King that Oprah would be his running mate selection if he ever launched a presidential campaign. Trump said, “I love Oprah. Oprah would always be my first choice.”
It appears Donald Trump and Oprah Winfrey’s public political divide began after Barack Obama’s successful 2008 presidential run. Winfrey backed Obama, while Trump — who began having designs on the White House during Obama’s first term — by 2011 began pushed the false birtherism conspiracy theory that the first Black president was not born in the United States.
Winfrey endorsed Harris as well. The U.K.-based, conservative-leaning tabloid Daily Mail ran an article titled, “Donald Trump launches scathing attack on Oprah Winfrey after she came out in support of Kamala Harris.”
Right-wing Daily Mail readers defended Trump’s posts attacking Harris and Winfrey. A U.K. resident expressed, “Oprah Winfrey totally discredited herself with the farcical, ‘staged’ interview with Harry and Meghan.”
Someone else commented, “It wasn’t a scathing attack. Or even an attack for that matter. He pointed out the differences between his family interview with Oprah in 2011 and Oprah’s interview with Harris this week.”
Another Trump critic wrote, “Trump was not on Oprah’s last show, and was not even on during her last week. No doubt he remembers it that way though, because: it’s all about him, isn’t it? Like, always? At every moment?”
A fourth added, “Trump is incorrect and saying that this isn’t the real Oprah. This is just the latest iteration of the grift that she has perpetuated for decades. I’m certain that the Oprah that the public sees is completely different from her real persona.”
Donald Trump and his family did not appear on the last episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” But they did appear on the daytime talk program during a Feb. 7, 2011, episode, three months before the show ended.
More than 200,000 people signed up to watch the “Unite for America” stream with “The Color Purple” star and the Vice President. The YouTube version of the Sept. 19 event amassed over 2 million views. Celebrities such as Meryl Streep, Tracee Ellis Ross, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts, and Chris Rock were among the remote attendees.
🔥🚨BREAKING: Kamala Harris rambled for so long that Oprah Winfrey had to remind her of the question a Black man asked her which was “What will you do about the border?” Kamala actually forgot about the question until Oprah saved her, still refusing to give a clear response. pic.twitter.com/8SlSqFwbc2
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) September 20, 2024
“Thank you to everyone who made ‘Unite For America’ possible: Vice President Kamala Harris, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Jotaka and Win With Black Woman and all the grassroots groups, and my incredible Harpo team,” Winfrey posted on Facebook.
She added, “But most importantly, I want to spotlight the voters from across the country who joined us in person and on Zoom. I hope you left informed and inspired to do something. Remind the people in your life of the privilege and power of their vote because united we win.”
Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump will represent their respective parties in the 2024 U.S. presidential election on Nov. 5. The RealClearPolitics current average of polls has Harris leading Trump 49.4% to 47.2%.
