Oprah Winfrey was a vocal supporter of President Obama and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, but that didn’t stop her from offering encouraging words about President-elect Donald Trump.
In an interview with the Associated Press, the retired talk show queen remarked that in her mind, “hope is still alive.”
“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 brother has been humbled by this whole thing,” she said.
“I think it’s a humbling process that now you literally have the weight of the world on your shoulders.”
Winfrey had previously spoken differently of the billionaire as she pushed for a Clinton victory in the lead-up to the election.
“I hear this all the time,” Winfrey said. “You get in conversations, and there’s not a person in this room who hasn’t been in the same conversation, where people say, ‘I just don’t know if I like her.’”
“She’s not coming over to your house,” Winfrey continued. “You don’t have to like her. Do you like this country? Do you like democracy or do you want a demagogue?”
By Thursday afternoon, though, Winfrey was trying to think positively about the outcome, tweeting a photo of Trump meeting with Obama in the White House, and advising her followers, “Everybody take a deep breath! #HopeLives!”
Friday, she echoed those sentiments during an interview with Entertainment Tonight.
“I think we have, you know, we… America has spoken.”
She added that she became much more at ease with a Trump presidency after seeing how the billionaire’s meeting went with Obama.
“I just saw the two of them together, I will say this: I just saw President-elect Trump with President Obama in the White House and it gave me hope,” she said.
“To hear President-elect Trump say that he had respect for President Obama, it felt that he had reached a moment where he was actually humbled by that experience.”
“To hear President Obama say that he has renewed confidence in the peaceful transition, I think everybody can take a deep breath,” she continued.
(via: Western Journalism)
