Meet Marianne Williamson: Bestselling author and Oprah’s ‘spiritual advisor’ is first Dem to challenge Joe Biden in 2024

Marianne Williamson has announced that she will run for president in 2024 – becoming the first person from the Democratic party to challenge Joe Biden for the nomination. Williamson, a self-help author and spiritual advisor to Oprah Winfrey, began her campaign in Washington on Saturday. Williamson, who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2020, wrote on Facebook that the unconventional White House victory in 2016 makes it “odd for anyone to think they can know who can win the presidency.” “I’m not putting myself through this again just to add to the conversation,” Williamson wrote. “I’m running for president to help bring an aberrational chapter of our history to a close, and to help bring forth a new beginning.” Let’s take a closer look at the 70-year-old bestselling author Williamson: Early years and career According to her 2020 campaign website, Williamson was born in 1952 in Houston. Her father was an immigration lawyer and her mother was a traditional housewife. Williamson attended public schools in Houston and spent two years at California’s Pomona College. According to The New York Times, Williamson in the 1980s, at the height of the AIDS epidemic, opened Centers for Living in Los Angeles and Manhattan to help people afflicted with the disease.

She also created Project Angel Food, which supports those with serious illnesses with free meals.

She published her first book A return to love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles in 1992. Williamson on her website said her book became a bestseller after Oprah Winfrey invited her on as a guest on her popular talk show and gave away a thousand copies. She has since published a dozen books – four of which have reached number 1 on the list of The New York Times bestsellers. Williamson on her website has acknowledged that her career has not been traditional but said that it has been successful. “I have been a teacher of transformational wisdom, a successful businesswoman, and a political activist. I have counselled leaders ranging from business to culture to politics. I have been blessed to participate in many non-profit activities, including co-founding The Peace Alliance working on the Board of Results, and speaking for various charitable causes over the years. I produced and hosted four Sister Giant Conferences, facilitating the connection of thousands of women to progressive activism and electoral politics,” Williamson wrote. Foray into politics, failed 2020 bid Williamson’s first foray into politics came in 2014 when she unsuccessfully ran for Congress in Los Angeles. In a field of 16, she ended up in fourth position in the jungle primary. Williamson first gained a name on the national stage in 2016 as a vocal support of Bernie Sanders – the progressive Senator who would go on to lose to eventual Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. [caption id=“attachment_11652631” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Bernie Sanders unsuccesfully challenged Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in 2016 AFP[/caption] In 2019, Williamson raised eyebrows by announcing she would be running for US president. It was a clear attempt to follow in the footsteps of then president Donald Trump by using her personal celebrity as a stepping stone to politics. Williamson during her campaign urged fellow Americans to speak in deeper truths about the need for compassion and “moral repair” in politics. She gained attention in the early Democratic debates when she stated she would ‘harness the power of love’ to defeat Donald Trump. “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,” she said as per The New York Times.

“I’m going to harness love for political purposes. I will meet you on that field, and sir, love will win.”

Those answers earned her both respect and ridicule on social media. Williamson’s answers on race at the debates also raised her profile. As per the newspaper, she described reparations to Black people as “payment of a debt that is owed” and said that the water crisis in Flint would have never occurred in a wealthy, white area. One of her more eye-catching proposals was a plan to create a US Department of Peace. And the higher profile also caused harsher scrutiny of some of her more unusual views. In June 2019, Williamson came under fire for describing mandatory vaccinations as “draconian” and “Orwellian”, as per The Los Angeles Times. “To me, it’s no different than the abortion debate,” Williamson said. “The US government doesn’t tell any citizen, in my book, what they have to do with their body or their child.”

After an uproar, Williamson quickly backtracked.

“I understand that many vaccines are important and save lives,” Williamson was quoted as saying by the newspaper. “I also understand some of the skepticism that abounds today about drugs which are rushed to market by Big Pharma. I am sorry that I made comments which sounded as though I question the validity of life-saving vaccines. That is not my feeling and I realize that I misspoke.” Regardless, Williamson struggled with fundraising and never once broke the 1 per cent barrier in polling. In January 2020, Williamson dropped out of the race days after laying off her entire 2020 campaign staff. Williamson explained her decision, which came just weeks ahead of voting in the 2020′s leadoff Iowa caucus, by saying she did not want to make it tougher for a progressive to win. She also said she did not believe she would be able to gain enough support in the upcoming contests to make a difference in the race to challenge then president Donald Trump. In a post on her website, Williamson said “we will not be able to garner enough votes in the election to elevate our conversation any more than it is now.” In announcing her exit from the race, Williamson said she hoped other campaigns might embrace her ideas, from “creation of a more mindful politics, to changing from an economic to a humanitarian bottom line, to initiating a season of moral repair.” She tweeted:

Williamson later endorsed Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2020 bid. Sanders yet again finished second in the Democratic primary against Biden. ‘Need politics to treat cause, not symptom’ Williamson running against a sitting president from her own party would be the longest of long shots under any circumstances. But that’s especially true this cycle, as the Democratic establishment — and even potential presidential hopefuls who could have competed with Biden from the left or middle — has closed ranks with remarkable uniformity behind the president. Williamson says she plans to follow her Washington announcement with travel to states voting early in the Democratic primary. That includes New Hampshire, where she’s suggested she’d participate in the state’s primary if it defies Democratic National Committee rules and holds the nation’s first presidential nominating contest despite the party making South Carolina its leadoff state for 2024. “I feel my forty years being up close and personal with the trauma of so many thousands of individuals gives me a unique perspective on what is needed to help repair America,” Williamson wrote. “We need a politics that treats not just symptoms, but cause. That does not base itself on the crass imperatives of endless corporate profit, but on the eternal imperatives of our principles and values.” This time, she evoked a theme Biden used frequently before last fall’s midterm elections, when Democrats showed surprising resilience. The president argues that American democracy is under threat from extreme “MAGA Republicans” loyal to Trump’s Make America Great Again movement. Williamson said the nation’s political traditions may not endure today’s threats. “If we don’t preserve the blessings of democracy today,” she wrote in her Facebook post.

“We should expect the threat of authoritarianism later.”

Biden hasn’t yet announced a formal reelection bid that aides say is likely to come in the next few months. First lady Jill Biden recently told The Associated Press that there was “pretty much” nothing left for the president to do but pick a time and place to announce his reelection bid. Biden himself, though told ABC that “there’s too many other things I have to finish in the near-term before I start a campaign.” With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .