Oprah Running for President? The Obamas are behind her!

Oprah Winfrey is "actively thinking" about running for president two of her close friends told CNN Monday. The two friends, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely, talked in the wake of Winfrey's speech at the Golden Globes Sunday night, which spurred chatter about a 2020 run.

After the speech, Winfrey's longtime partner, Stedman Graham, was quoted saying a run is certainly a possibility. 

"It's up to the people," Graham told a Los Angeles Times reporter. "She would absolutely do it." 

NBC deleted a tweet it published during Sunday's Golden Globe awards ceremony that referred to Oprah Winfrey as "OUR future president." The deleted tweet featured a photo of Winfrey and said, "Nothing but respect for OUR future president. #GoldenGlobes." 

Winfrey’s political speech on Sunday night is "bring back the Obama administration" in 2020. If Oprah wanted the Democratic nomination, there’s no question that she could get it. Nobody in the Democratic precincts can compete with Oprah Winfrey. Nobody. She wouldn't even have to campaign. She could say, "I want it... give it to me."

Now, she told her friend Gayle King that, "there will be no running for office of any kind for me.” That was a while back, but now it's different. The policies of Barack Obama are being dismantled. President Obama does not like that. He is very close to Oprah Winfrey, but even closer to Winfrey is Michelle Obama. They are buddies. All three of them are simpatico in worldview. They agree that President Barack Obama was a genius and his policies were great. 

So, Oprah Winfrey is now the vehicle for the Obama administration to return to power in 2020. That's what's happening.

Reaction to Wolff’s ‘Fire and Fury’ Book

Michael Wolff, the author of a new book about the Trump White House ‘Fire and Fury’, said in a new interview that he and the president would talk as if they were “friends” while he was working on the book. 

“Well I think he probably had no idea he was speaking to me for this book,” Wolff told “CBS This Morning,” referencing the president. “When I would meet the president in the white house, we would chat as though we were friends.” 

The White House has strongly pushed back against claims in the book. Trump said last week he granted "zero access" to Wolff, press secretary Sarah Sanders called the book a "complete fantasy" and a personal attorney for Trump sent a cease-and-desist letter to Wolff and his publisher. 

President Trump on Saturday spoke out at the presidential retreat at Camp David, where he was meeting with Republican lawmakers and Cabinet officials to draw up a game plan for 2018. 

“[I] ran for president one time and won, and then I hear this guy who does not know me, does not know me at all. By the way, did not interview me for three hours, it didn't exist, OK? It's in his imagination," Trump said. 

When asked about the book itself, Trump said, “I consider it a work of fiction and I consider it a disgrace.” 

The president complained about the country’s “very weak” libel laws, saying “if they were strong, it would be very helpful,” because “you wouldn't have things like that happen.”  

Wolff claims he did interview the president and conducted more than 200 interviews with White House and campaign officials for the book. 

NBC News, citing White House officials, has reported that Wolff last spoke with Trump by phone in early February 2017.

Stephen Miller and CNN's Jake Tapper Face Off

White House adviser Stephen Miller was escorted off the set of CNN’s "State of the Union" on Sunday after a contentious interview with host Jake Tapper. 

Two sources close to the situation said that after the taping was done, Miller was asked to leave several times. He ignored those requests and ultimately security was called and he was escorted out, the sources said. CNN declined to comment. 

Miller's appearance on the cable network quickly went off the rails when Tapper pressed him on explosive claims about President Donald Trump that appeared in the book "Fire & Fury: Inside The Trump White House" by Michael Wolff. 

Miller repeatedly attempted to pivot the conversation toward criticism of CNN, a favorite target of Trump's. He then referred to Trump as a "political genius" and lamented his treatment during the interview, leading Tapper to reply that there was only "one viewer you care about right now." 

Miller later listed several recent reporting errors by CNN, including a report last month that Donald Trump Jr. received an email about stolen Democratic emails during the 2016 presidential campaign. CNN reported that Trump Jr. was sent the email on Sept. 4, 2016, days before a trove of stolen emails were publicly released. It was later revealed that the email was sent to Trump Jr. on Sept. 14, 2016, a day after those emails were made public. 

CNN declined to reprimand the reporters who published the story and has refused to explain how it got the story so wrong or to identify the sources of the erroneous information used in the article.  

Miller accused Tapper of being “condescending” and failing to ask questions about policy. Tapper said that Miller was dodging his questions and performing for “an audience of one” — Trump. 

“You’re not answering the questions,” said Tapper, adding, “I think I’ve wasted enough of my viewers’ time” before cutting to commercial.

Shortly after the interview ended, Trump tweeted, "Jake Tapper of Fake News CNN just got destroyed in his interview with Stephen Miller of the Trump Administration. Watch the hatred and unfairness of this CNN flunky!”

Oprah Highlights Journalism During Golden Globe Speech

Oprah is living in a fantasy world if she believes the American media is looking for the truth. They are not. 

At the highest levels of many media corporations, orders have come down to attack Trump. If you are a reporter, editor or a producer and you don't toe the company line, forget about your career. Everyone, in every newsroom knows that. 

If you believe, as Oprah seems to, that there's an independent minded press trying to get to the truth of what's happening in this country, then you're severely misguided. What the press wants is political influence, electing people with whom they agree. They want to destroy the people with whom they disagree. 

Oprah doesn’t think that there is a problem in the press, but the latest study says Donald Trump's overall press reportage has been 5 percent favorable, 95 percent negative. You have an economy that's soaring. You have the lowest black unemployment rate in 45 years. You have ISIS on the run. You have a stabilized border, and he's only got 5 percent favorable coverage? And Oprah says that she's so proud and she's so confident. She's foolish. 

Every sane fair-minded American knows what's going on here. The press wants to overturn the election. They think Donald Trump is a vulgarian and the people who voted for him are deplorable. Oprah doesn't see that? It’s probably because the press all love her. They're going to campaign for her to run for president. 

It’s depressing, that the majority of the media is not being honest about what is going on in America right now. You can find the truth and honesty on this broadcast, but that’s about it.

Mail Time!

• "Bill, your podcast from Thursday was your best yet. Your insider's analysis of President Trump's off camera personality and thought process and how you came to know him as well as you have... it was fascinating. That's why I'm a PM. No other media outlet would do anything remotely like that. My question is: after your Super Bowl interview, have you had the chance to talk to the president privately?"
• Yes. I haven't spoken to him in a while. But yes, I've spoken to him a number of times since he took office. But I don't... those are private conversations and I wouldn't ever talk about them unless he wanted and he said, "you can," but I wouldn't do that. 

• "Very good overview, Bill, on Trump. I do not know him like you do but I have never thought of him as mentally unstable. There's a political attack by the left because they didn't get their way in the election. I respect your insight because 30 years is a long time to know and be associated with someone and make an accurate observation on a number of things going on in our society."
• Well, I try. And that was on that message board and we've got a lot of message board activity this weekend. So I hope you enjoyed it. 

• "Happy new year, Bill. Enjoyed your podcast, especially your background of knowing Donald Trump for 30 years, and your view of him personally sounds right to me. I always read your message boards and enjoy what your listeners have to say."
• You know, the message boards are really good. It's one of the reasons why it's worth becoming a Premium Member and you guys spreading the word.

Word of the Day: Blatherskite