Marianne Williamson poised to challenge Biden for 2024 Democratic presidential nomination

Self-help guru Marianne Williamson appears to be readying to launch a 2024 primary challenge against President Biden, arguing that there is a disconnect between the 80-year-old commander-in-chief and average Americans. 

“Apparently Biden’s going to run on a message that the economy is getting stronger. I think that speaks to the disconnect between the analysis of party elites versus the struggle of everyday Americans,” Williamson told Politico in an interview released on Friday.

“We’re being asked to limit our political imaginations — to just accept the low unemployment and low inflation rate, that that is sort of the best that we can get. But that is a hollow victory. The majority of Americans are still struggling to survive,” she added.  

The 2020 Democratic presidential candidate told the news outlet that she’ll be making a statement this weekend from New Hampshire about her 2024 plans and that if she decides to run she would “absolutely” run as a Democrat. 

Asked about anything she believes Biden has done a good job on as president, Williamson told Politico that “there’s a lot of sleight of hand” with some of the president’s signature accomplishments. 

“For instance, there is more money in the Inflation Reduction Act given to green energy investment, all of which is good. But on the other hand, once again, there are more drilling permits than even were given under the Trump administration,” Williamson complained, adding that she supported his failed Build Back Better legislation.

Williamson, who championed issues on her viral 2020 presidential campaign that included establishing a “Department of Peace” and doling out $100 billion in reparations, dropped out last cycle before the Iowa caucuses. 

The best-selling author and Oprah Winfrey pal endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for the White House after ending her 2020 long-shot campaign. 

Williamson told Politico that she’s not “anti-science” or “anti-vax” and complained that the media got many things wrong about her in 2020. 

“I’m not the crystal lady. I didn’t tell people they got sick because they didn’t pray enough,” she said.

In a 2024 race against Biden, Williamson said her strategy would be to “tell the truth as I understand it.”

“Did Donald Trump in 2016 have a strategy? I don’t think he had a strategy. He hit a nerve,” she said. 

In response to criticism that she has no chance at winning in 2024 and is running again as a “vanity project,” Williamson compared herself to abolitionists, suffragists, and civil rights activists.

“Abolitionists would not have thought that abolishing slavery was possible. The suffragists would have had days when they didn’t think women’s suffrage was possible. Civil rights workers would have thought that desegregation wasn’t possible,” Williamson said. 

Biden has signaled that he intends to run for re-election but he has not set a date for when he will officially make that determination. 

A Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll released on Friday shows that 57% of registered voters say they have doubts about his mental fitness, and 67% say he is showing that he is too old to be president.