We all knew it was coming, right? Oh, you didn’t know Williamson was still running? Well, she is, or at least, she was, until today.
There’s no surprise here. One media outlet described her candidacy as a “longshot.” Well today, that longshot candidacy is over. If you want to hear from Marianne Williamson again, it’ll be at a book signing or a self-help seminar, not on the presidential campaign trail.
A politics of conscience is still yet possible. And yes….love will prevail.https://t.co/BqTKQFI338
— Marianne Williamson (@marwilliamson) January 10, 2020
As NBC reports, she just laid off her entire campaign staff a week ago so the writing was on the wall:
Self-help author Marianne Williamson announced Friday she is ending her unlikely presidential campaign, a week after laying off nearly her entire campaign staff.
The best-selling author and spiritual adviser struggled to be taken seriously in the crowded Democratic 2020 field, despite spending nearly a year campaigning in early voting states and the viral success of her colorful debate performances.
“I stayed in the race to take advantage of every possible opportunity to share our message,” Williamson said in an email to supporters on Friday. “With caucuses and primaries now about to begin, however, we will not be able to garner enough votes in the election to elevate our conversation any more than it is now.”
Williamson herself probably knew she wasn’t going to win, as a total political outsider, but she also knew that running this race, for even a short time, is a great way to raise your public image. She did seem genuine, though, on her messaging, and no one can surely say why an individual decides to join a campaign where the odds are terribly low of winning.
Williamson hit her high point by earning a spot to the first 2 Democratic debates back in June and July of 2019. Her debate performances were not that bad for a newcomer and she spoke with emotion and put her heart into the process.
Here are some of her clips from back during the July debate:
Williamson hasn’t held together much support for months now, appearing sometimes at 1% in polls or less, so her departure isn’t going to shake anything up.
For now, though, whatever mixture there was of “love and big truth” in the campaign will be gone. Ultimately, Williamson says she’s more in line with Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren than others in the party, such as Joe Biden, and she doesn’t want to stand in their way by being yet another candidate on the ballot in any upcoming primaries and caucuses.
With Donald Trump’s ascension to the Republican nomination and the White House in 2016, there are fewer reasons for celebrities and “spiritual leaders,” as Williamson is referred to, not try their hand at a presidential run. Trump proved that a political novice can defeat the establishment, but Williamson never caught on quite the same way.
If only she had a better campaign slogan, like, “Make Encouragement Great Again.” It has a MEGA vs. MAGA kind of appeal, doesn’t it?
