Spiritualist Marianne Williamson ends improbable White House run

Marianne Williamson, the spiritualist author who urged fellow Americans to speak in deeper truths about the need for compassion and "moral repair" in politics, announced Friday she is ending her longshot 2020 presidential run.

The 67-year-old self-empowerment advocate and sometime Oprah Winfrey advisor gained little traction in the crowded field and failed to qualify for most of the Democratic debates, leaving her unable "to garner enough votes in the election to elevate our conversation any more than it is now," she said in a statement.

"As of today, therefore, I'm suspending my campaign," Williamson said.

Williamson, like President Donald Trump, never before ran for public office but used her personal celebrity as a stepping stone to politics.

She earned a combination of respect and ridicule for suggesting a "dark psychic force" was threatening America under Trump's presidency.

At a July debate, Williamson caught Americans off guard when she offered a clear-eyed denunciation not just of Trumpism, but an inability of Democrats to tap into the frustrations everyday Americans have about economic and social injustice.

In announcing her exit from the race, Williamson said she hoped other campaigns might embrace her ideas, from "creation of a more mindful politics, to changing from an economic to a humanitarian bottom line, to initiating a season of moral repair."

© 2020 AFP