" ;The Pope" of American television Oprah Winfrey showed yesterday evening her full ability to mobilize both the stars and the users of social networks during a gala event with the participation of the candidate of the American Democrats for president Kamala Harris.
The gala evening was organized in Michigan, which is one of the US states where the battle for the presidency will be the most contested in the November 5 elections. The event was broadcast live online across multiple platforms.
Oprah Winfrey, who Americans call only by her first name, had mobilized a number of stars at the gala evening, who joined in via video conference on a video wall. Among them were singer Jennifer Lopez, actresses Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts or Tracee Ellis Ross, comedian Chris Rock and actors Bryan Cranston and Ben Stiller.
This attracted tens of millions of viewers who had the opportunity to follow this spectacular campaign talk show called "United for America" on the YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok or Twitch accounts of Harris and Winfrey.
Oprah Winfrey, who has long been close to the Democratic Party, made a memorable appearance at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where Kamala Harris was officially nominated as the presidential candidate.
The US vice president knows how beneficial it can be to support this billionaire-turned-businesswoman and familiar embodiment of the American dream, whose influence remains significant in the US. And this influence is so significant that at a certain point Oprah Winfrey was perceived as a possible presidential candidate.
In the presence of this icon of American culture, Kamala Harris called for an alliance against "powerful forces that want to divide us," referring to her Republican opponent Donald Trump.
Trump was in Washington at the time, where he spoke to a pro-Israel organization during an event dedicated to the fight against anti-Semitism.
Accusing Kamala Harris of not defending Israel after the murderous attack by "Hamas", which was carried out on October 7 last year on Israeli territory and which was unprecedented in its scale, Trump assured that Israel has an interest in Harris being defeated in the presidential elections in November.
"Any Jew who is going to vote for her needs to get his head checked," said the Republican.
Fifty-nine-year-old Harris, for her part, answered a series of questions, kindly presented by Oprah Winfrey, on such topics as immigration, the cost of living or abortion.
During an emotional moment on the program, Harris hugged 15-year-old high school student Natalie Griffith, who was seriously injured when a 14-year-old student opened fire at their school near Atlanta, killing four people on Sept. 4.
Kamala Harris has confirmed that she has a firearm in her home. "If someone were to force their way into my home, they would be fired upon,'' she said, before adding with a laugh: "Maybe I shouldn't have said that.
Joining the rally via Zoom, Meryl Streep said she was concerned that Donald Trump might again refuse to concede his eventual election defeat, as he did four years ago.
"I wonder if we are ready for January 7,", the actress said, referring to a January 6, 2021, storming of Congress by supporters of the billionaire Republican to prevent then-confirmation of Joe Biden's election as president.
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Translation from French: Gabriela Golemanska, BTA