Oprah Just Taught Everyone How To Respond To Trump’s Insults
Oprah Winfrey isn’t playing President Donald Trump’s insult game.
In recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly attacked the actress and talk show maven. He called Winfrey “very insecure” in a tweet last month and over the weekend he promised to make a possible presidential run “painful” for her.
“I would love to beat Oprah,” Trump said during a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday night. “I know her weakness.”
Not surprisingly, Winfrey took the high road on Sunday when CNN’s Van Jones asked what she would say in response to Trump’s comments.
“I wouldn’t,” Winfrey replied. “I would only speak if I felt that I could be heard.”
"I would only speak if I felt that I could be heard," @Oprah tells @VanJones68 after he asks her what she would say if she had 10 minutes with President Trump #VanJonesShow https://t.co/N7u4pDAaqc pic.twitter.com/tfOrAS9B9F
— CNN (@CNN) March 12, 2018
Winfrey’s powerful speech at the Golden Globe Awards earlier this year drew both acclaim and calls for her to run for president against Trump in 2020. However, she has since said she hasn’t heard from God on the issue.
“(I)f God actually wanted me to run, wouldn’t God kind of tell me?” Winfrey said on “60 Minutes Overtime.” “And I haven’t heard that.”
While not a candidate herself, Winfrey did offer some advice for whoever does run:
“I will say to whoever is going to run for office, do not give your energy to the other side. Do not spend all your time talking about your opponents. Do not give your energy to that which you really don’t believe in. Do not spend an ounce of your time on that.”
Related...
The Question of Whether Oprah Should Run
I'm So Excited About Oprah 2020
Also on HuffPost
"When people show you who they are, believe them."
It's one of the most important lessons Oprah ever learned from Maya Angelou. "If a person says to you, 'I'm selfish,' or, 'I'm mean,' or, 'I am unkind,'… believe them," Angelou advised in 1997. "They know themselves much better than you do."
"When you see crazy coming, cross the street."
"Most of us have a death urge. We see the guy coming, warning slapped right in the middle of his head. And we said, 'Oh, I'm going to fix him. I'm going to change it. I'm going to reshape it,'" Iyanla Vanzant said in 1998. "Love doesn't have to fix you, change you. When you see crazy coming, cross the street. Cross the street!"
"If what you're doing is not working, you have to change it."
"I'm just a strong believe in life law number two: You create your own experience," said Dr. Phil in 2001. "I really believe that. And the point is, if what you're doing is not working, you have to change it. You have to change it. And everybody will say, 'Well, I don't want to be somebody I'm not. I don't want to stop being who I am.' Well, you know what? If who you are is not working, you'll find that you have a broad range of who you are."
"Don't trust the fact that life will be logical and orderly."
"Forgiveness actually should be thought of as the most selfish act you could do for yourself -- and self-indulgent," Caroline Myss said in 1998. "And this is where the confusion comes in with it: You're actually not saying, 'You know, what you did is OK.' You're not saying that... What you're really saying is, 'I'm no longer going to trust the fact that life should be logical and orderly. I'm not going to trust it, because you know what? It doesn't work that way. And I'm no longer going to count on ordinary justice to work the way I would like it to work.'"
"Power is the alignment of your personality with your soul."
This definition of power, Oprah told Gary Zukav in 2000, is one of her favorite definitions in the world. "You say when your personality comes to serve the energy of your soul -- meaning, you can combine yourself, your personality with what your soul's purpose is here on earth -- then that is authentic empowerment," she summarized.
Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
