Marianne Williamson, the self-help creator and religious adviser, launched her 2024 presidential marketing campaign Saturday in an unlikely area: Union Station, the Washington, D.C., transportation hub the place commuters catch Amtrak and metro trains.
“It’s our job to create a imaginative and prescient of justice and love that’s so highly effective that it’s going to override the forces of hatred and injustice and concern,” Williamson instructed a crowd gathered within the station’s East Corridor. “I, as of at present, am a candidate for the workplace of President of the US.”
All through a lot of her announcement speech, Williamson railed in opposition to financial inequality and the U.S. governing system, which she known as “intrinsically corrupt.” “I am not saying one particular person can repair it, I am not saying even one president can repair it. However let me inform you one thing, a president who lays it down and says it like it’s would do a number of good,” she stated.
Williamson additionally ran as a Democratic presidential candidate in 2020. Whereas she had some viral moments in the course of the marketing campaign, she didn’t achieve any actual traction as a candidate.
She additionally confronted scrutiny for her previous feedback on antidepressants, and for referring to vaccine mandates as “Orwellian” and “draconian.”
To this point, Williamson, 70, is the primary candidate to enter the race for the 2024 Democratic nomination, launching a marketing campaign forward of even President Joe Biden, 80, who has strongly hinted he’ll run once more.
In an interview with NBC Information Friday, earlier than her launch, Williamson stated she believes she will defeat Biden within the Democratic major — regardless that she didn’t come shut in 2020 — after which go on to beat former president Donald Trump or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis within the basic election.
“I’m painted as a longshot candidate by these whose energy and place are tied to preserving the established order,” Williamson stated. “The issue is that the established order is insufficient to the duty of going through the challenges in entrance of us at present. And the established order won’t disrupt itself. It’s time for the folks to step in.
“I’m not difficult Joe Biden. I’m difficult the system.”
Williamson additionally stated she is planning to marketing campaign in New Hampshire and South Carolina this month, and also will go to East Palestine, Ohio, the place a prepare derailment has fueled political tensions between the 2 events.
Within the final presidential election cycle, she barely registered in nationwide polls and ended her unlikely bid in January 2020.
Previous to her political profession, Williamson was often called a best-selling creator of religious self-help guides.
Micki Fahner contributed.
