Oprah Winfrey for President? Almost Anyone Can!

I’ve been nursing a cold or flu or whatever this crud is for the last few days and while convalescing, watching way too much news on the old tele. I toggle back and forth mostly between France 24, France’s national news channel — in English — and CNN.

The only real reason I watch CNN at all is to get more in-depth news on what our illustrious #45 (Donald Trump) is up to these days, as I have come to detest its sensationalist style. France 24 does a much better job of telling “just the facts, ma’am” than CNN, which editorializes with every turn and is as obsessed by #45 as much as he is with them and himself! It’s almost a joke, but it isn’t funny.

Monday, CNN must have replayed excerpts from Oprah Winfrey’s speech at the Golden Globes a thousand times as the first black woman to receive the Cecil B. de Mille Award. What ensued has been speculation about Oprah running for president of the United States in 2020. The idea of that happening must be as intriguing for the political left as #45’s running for president was for the political right…and you see how that turned out.

In 1988, Oprah interviewed a young Donald Trump about his inclinations for the presidency. At the time he didn’t think he would run, but he did think he would win. Perhaps the same thing is true for Ms. Winfrey, who is in the same boat these 30 years later? Funny thing, on the news yesterday was #45 himself saying during a Cabinet Meeting he didn’t think she would run, but he would beat her!

One thing for sure, that old adage that “anyone can become President of the United States” became seriously true when Donald Trump was elected and would be the same if Oprah were to run for office and win. Article 2, Section 1, Clause 5 of the American Constitution says: No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States. That’s pretty much every adult. Comedian George Carlin once said, “In America, anyone can become president. That’s the problem.”

Here in France we’re seeing a whole lot more Americans moving over. We’ve never helped so many people acquire their visas, find rental apartments or make investments in French property as we have since #45 was elected. I call it the “Trump Fallout.” Between opposition to #45’s presidency and France’s young, optimistic M. Macron with his arms wide open, the future in France looks a whole lot brighter for expats, as well as for the French who left France prior to that.

According to a 2016 article in The Local, 2.5 million French are now living outside of France, legally and illegally, and that was back in 2016. At that time, there were 142,000 French living in the United States, officially anyway. They left during the Hollande administration when there was little hope for employment, high taxation and lack of real entrepreneurial opportunities. All that has changed with Emmanuel Macron in office.

The question is will they return to France now that there is more hope on the horizon for employment and business opportunities? There is much debate in the media as to whether “Trump Fallout” is only for Americans or also for the expat French living in the U.S. Is young Macron’s arms open wide enough for them to want to return home?

I’ve been hoping for this ever since the presidential elections. My theory is that if the young French return to France, armed with stronger English language skills, more open-minded viewpoints on entrepreneurship and capitalism, then perhaps the country has a real chance to turn itself around for a much brighter economic future. Maybe, just maybe, some of that mud their French feet are so stuck in will wash away and that would be a very positive change indeed…at least that’s what my American capitalistic ideals hopes for all of us living in France.

A la prochaine…

Adrian Leeds
Adrian Leeds Group

(with Hilary Kaiser at Après Midi)

Respond to Adrian

P.S. Be sure to read about yesterday’s Après Midi, when Hilary Kaiser, author of French War Brides: Mademoiselle & the American Soldier, spoke at length with a slide presentation about her archival research done in both the U.S. and France along with oral history interviews on the subject. It was fascinating!