Washington — Oprah Winfrey preached unity, while taking slight digs at former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, in her speech at the Democratic convention Wednesday night.
"There are people who want you to see our country as a nation of 'us against them' — people who want to scare you, who want to rule you," she said. "People who'd have you believe that books are dangerous and assault rifles are safe, that there's a right way to worship and a wrong way to love. People who seek first to divide and then to conquer. But here's the thing — when we stand together, it is impossible to conquer us."
"Despite what some would have you think, we are not so different from our neighbors," Winfrey said. "When a house is on fire, we don't ask about the homeowner's race or religion, we don't wonder who their partner is or how they voted. No. We just try to do the best we can to save them."
And with a reference to comments Vance made in 2021 about women who have cats and not children, she added, "And if the place happens to belong to a childless cat lady, well, we try to get that cat out too."
She called out "ridiculous tweets and lies and foolery" and swiped at Trump's comments that Christians would not have to vote again if they voted for him in November.
"There's a certain candidate that says, 'if we just go to the polls this one time, that we'll never have to do it again,'" she said. "Well, you know what, you're looking at a registered independent who's proud to vote again and again and again, because I'm an American, and that's what Americans do."
She then sought to sway independents and undecided voters to back Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. She argued "values and character" matter, and "decency and respect" are on the ballot.
"Common sense tells you that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz can give us decency and respect. They're the ones that give it to us," she said. "Let us choose loyalty to the Constitution over loyalty to any individual, because that's the best of America. And let us choose optimism over cynicism, because that's the best of America. And let us choose inclusion over retribution. Let us choose common sense over nonsense, because that's the best of America. And let us choose the sweet promise of tomorrow over the bitter return to yesterday. But more than anything else, let us choose freedom. Why? Because that's the best of America."
"Only in America"
In a brief interview backstage after her speech, Winfrey grew emotional as she told "CBS Mornings" co-host Tony Dokoupil why she decided to speak out.
"Because I really care about this country, and there couldn't have been a life like mine, a career like mine, a success like mine, without a country like America," she said. "Only in America could there be a me. And I feel that a lot of things are on the line, a lot of things are at stake."
Winfrey refrained from endorsing politicians until 2008, when she backed Barack Obama just before the Iowa caucuses. She then endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and President Biden in 2020.
"She hadn't intended to be involved, to be honest with you, she tries to stay out of politics, I think," Gayle King, the co-host of "CBS Mornings" and Winfrey's close friend, said Wednesday night. "She'd always tried to stay out of the political fray, and I think now the thinking is, for her, she feels there's a lot at stake and she just wants to — she has some things to say tonight."
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