Talking to actors Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks about the Golden Globes on her show Tuesday afternoon, host Ellen DeGeneres could not wait for Oprah Winfrey to run for president in 2020. Dubbing the liberal media mogul “our future president,” DeGeneres urged her guests to join in the sycophantic praise.
Streep was eager to participate as she thanked the host for endorsing any possible Oprah campaign. DeGeneres gushed: “I mean, what a speech, huh?” Streep replied: “What a speech, a barn burner.” Chatting about the latest speculation, DeGeneres informed: “Did you hear what Stedman said?... Stedman said, ‘It really is up to the people, she would absolutely do it.’ That was from Stedman.”
An excited Streep proclaimed: “Wow!...where do I send that check, you know?” DeGeneres agreed: “Yeah, I know.”
At that point, Hanks joked about Winfrey’s words parting the waters in the pool of the Beverly Hills Hilton where the Hollywood awards show took place. DeGenres declared: “That’s what she does....that’s Oprah.”
Mourning Donald Trump’s presidency, Streep insisted: “And you realize how we thirst for that. We – you know, we really want that kind of elevated, aspirational, can-do, optimistic, you know, attachment to the principles of our country.” DeGeneres added: “Caring of people and paying attention to who’s watching, these young girls that are watching, and actually knowing that words have power.”
Apparently DeGeneres has already moved on from being a Hillary Clinton superfan. In the lead-up to the 2016 election, the daytime host repeatedly used her show to boost Clinton’s presidential campaign:
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Ellen Hails Hillary: ‘You Know What a Supporter I Am’
Fonda and DeGeneres Love ‘Amazing,’ ‘Exciting,’ ‘Smart’ Hillary Clinton
‘Political Ally’ Ellen DeGeneres to Hillary Clinton: Pick Me as Veep?
Ellen Whines Over ‘Amazing’ Hillary Being Held to ‘Different Standard’
Ellen Whines: Hillary ‘Cannot Catch a Break’ With E-Mail Scandal
Just last month, over a year after Clinton’s defeat, DeGeneres hopefully asked the Democrat if Trump was “really going to last four years?”
When it comes writing checks for Democrats, she has not been shy. In 2016, DeGeneres donated nearly $40,000 to Democratic committees in states across the country.
On Tuesday, after gearing up for Oprah 2020, the host invited Streep and Hanks to promote their new movie, The Post, lionizing the liberal media. Streep explained:
...it’s about one week in 1971 that was sort of really important in our history. And it’s a time when The Washington Post decided to continue publishing the Pentagon papers, something that The New York Times had begun, Nixon tried to shut it down. It was the first time that the – a government had preemptively tried to stop the presses before they wrote a story.
DeGeneres chimed in: “Which is what – it’s amazing how similar, kind of, what’s happening right now with the press being attacked and being called fake news, and it’s very, I think, closely related.” Streep affirmed: “Yes, it is. Their legitimacy taken away. And our film is about standing up and the cost of it and the importance of it.”
Whoever the Democrats ultimately nominate to run against Trump in 2020, viewers can expect DeGeneres to provide that candidate with a fawning forum to reach voters – an in-kind contribution in addition to any financial support she may provide them.
The glowing discussion of Oprah’s Golden Globes speech was sponsored by Planet Fitness, Arm & Hammer, and College Inn.
Here are portions of the January 9 exchange with Streep and Hanks:
3:37 PM
(...)
ELLEN DEGENERES: And you were in the room, obviously, when Oprah, our future president was –
MERYL STREEP: Thank you.
[CHEERS & APPLAUSE]
STREEP [POINTING TO TOM HANKS]: And the future vice president.
DEGENERES: I mean, what a speech, huh?
STREEP: What a speech, a barn burner.
DEGENERES: Yeah. Did you hear what Stedman said?
STREEP: No.
DEGENERES: So Stedman was asked, and Stedman said, “It really is up to the people, she would absolutely do it.” That was from Stedman.
STREEP: Wow!
DEGENERES: So I don’t think he would say that without permission.
STREEP: Wow, where do I send that check, you know?
DEGENERES: Yeah, I know.
TOM HANKS: While she was speaking, out on the patio of the Hilton Hotel, the pool, the water separated in the pool.
[LAUGHTER]
And some of the staff were walking down along the tile from the deep end and up and getting out. And it stayed there for a while, and then it mushed back in.
DEGENERES: That’s what she does.
HANKS: But she did part the waters there, it was very, very impressive.
DEGENERES: Yeah, that’s Oprah.
STREEP: And you realize how we thirst for that. We – you know, we really want that kind of elevated, aspirational, can-do, optimistic, you know, attachment to the principles of our country.
DEGENERES: Caring of people and paying attention to who’s watching, these young girls that are watching, and actually knowing that words have power.
STREEP: Yeah, you bet.
(...)
3:42 PM
[CLIP FROM THE POST]
DEGENERES: That is from The Post. Tell everybody what the movie is about.
STREEP: Well, it’s about a lot of things, but it’s about one week in 1971 that was sort of really important in our history. And it’s a time when The Washington Post decided to continue publishing the Pentagon papers, something that The New York Times had begun, Nixon tried to shut it down. It was the first time that the – a government had preemptively tried to stop the presses before they wrote a story.
And it was about the week in which a woman ran the newspaper, which was a very, very unusual in those days. They weren’t even allowed to be reporters. Our friend Nora Ephron, who the film is dedicated to, she graduated at the top of her class from a really, really great college, went to Newsweek at the time that Katharine Graham owned it, and applied for a job as a reporter and the man looked at her and said, “Well, you can be a secretary, you can be an assistant, but reporters are men. Writers are men.”
And that was a way that it was. It was not that long ago, I was graduating from college that year. So I remember how different the world was. And so it felt to this woman to make the decision, and she happened to have the greatest managing editor of a newspaper, Ben Bradlee, and they had a working partnership that was sort of a template for the best of how men and women can work together.
HANKS: There was – there is a moment where honestly most of the people who are in power at the newspaper are telling her, “Do not publish these papers, you will go to jail, you will lose the newspaper, you will be convicted of treason, and it will be ruinous.” And there was one guy saying, “There’s no reason to have a newspaper unless we print this stuff. So you gotta publish, you gotta publish.”
DEGENERES: Which is what – it’s amazing how similar, kind of, what’s happening right now with the press being attacked and being called fake news, and it’s very, I think, closely related.
STREEP: Yes, it is. Their legitimacy taken away. And our film is about standing up and the cost of it and the importance of it.
DEGENERES: The importance of it, absolutely. I was reminded this morning the last time I saw you [Hanks], we were at the White House, and we were getting –
HANKS: How about that day.
DEGENERES: Getting the Medal of Freedom.
HANKS: Yeah, that was great.
[CHEERS & APPLAUSE]
DEGENERES: You [Streep] also have one.
[CHEERS & APPLAUSE]
DEGENERES: So, I mean, it’s amazing that the three of us have received this amazing, you know, award from this amazing man.
[CHEERS & APPLAUSE]
(...)
