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Understanding the Marianne Williamson phenomenon
06:24 - Source: CNN
CNN  — 

Marianne Williamson is a phenomenon.

This is indisputable – regardless of whether you think she has a chance in the 2020 Democratic presidential race. (She almost certainly doesn’t.) Williamson has been a bestselling author and spiritual guru to the stars – Oprah! Elizabeth Taylor! – for decades. And even while her chances of actually winning the Democratic nomination have always been, well, slim, her offbeat(?) performances in the first two presidential debates have made her the most talked-about and meme-able lower-tier candidate in the field. (I give you: “Girlfriend, you are so on.”)

Which brings me to an interview Williamson gave to Interview magazine (it’s the “Crystal Ball of Pop” dontcha know?). In which she offered her thoughts on yoga, Air Force One and her favorite fruits. I’ve plucked a handful of Williamson’s best lines from the Interview interview (never gets old!). They’re below.

1. “I’m particularly fond of green grapes.”

Seedless? With seeds? How can there not have been a follow-up question asked here?!?!?! Malpractice!

2. “I was surprised to see that the press doesn’t have seats that go all the way back into the sleeping position. I thought to myself, ‘If I’m president, we’re going to change that.’”

Williamson’s take on Air Force One is white-hot. Fully reclining seats for the media? What a world!

3. “Like so many other things on the material plane, it’s good or bad depending on the purpose ascribed to it by the human mind.”

This is Williamson on social media, I think. Maybe I am just too “on the material plane” to understand? Also, here’s my take on social media: It’s bad.

4. “I felt that the vast majority of humor around my first debate performance was not malevolent. It’s all good.”

Williamson’s willingness to laugh about herself makes her a very rare breed in national politics. (Humorlessness is the order of the day.) Plus, how could you not love Kate McKinnon’s Williamson impression?

5. “Laura Dern was my roommate many years ago.”

Wait, what? Also, this is true! Williamson was in her 30s, Dern was 17.

6. “I was there once, when Donald Trump was married to Marla Maples.”

Williamson has been to Mar-a-Lago! As she told Interview, it was for a fundraiser for an AIDS organization. While Trump didn’t leave much of an impression on Williamson, but Maples, his wife at the time, did. “I remember looking at her and thinking, ‘What a woman.’ I have never forgotten that,” Williamson said of Maples.

7. “I’ve been honored by a few of them, done by very high-level artists and cartoonists.”

If there is a better answer for what it’s like to be the subject of lots of Internet memes, I’ve yet to see it.

8. “I do think that Avatar told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about some very serious socioeconomic realities in our world today. James Cameron was able to transmit such profound truths in cartoon form.”

Avatar is not a cartoon. It is an epic science fiction film. Words matter, Ms. Williamson.

9. “I’ve never watched a whole episode, just snippets.”

Williamson on “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.” And honestly, same.

10. “You have to take responsibility for your own equanimity.”

WIlliamson 2020: You have to take responsibility for your own equanimity.