Oprah rules out being Donald Trump's running mate, but endorses Jimmy Kimmel's bid

Oprah Winfrey was on Thursday's Jimmy Kimmel Live, and Kimmel brought up the 2016 race. "Donald Trump has said many times — even, like 15 years ago — he said that if he ran for president, he would love for you to be his running mate," Kimmel said. "I think he was just joking about that," Oprah replied, quickly. "I don't think he was joking," Kimmel said. Winfrey assured him she hasn't gotten a call from Trump about being his running mate, and Kimmel asked what she'd say if he did call. "I'd say Donald, I'm with her," Oprah said. (She endorsed Hillary Clinton on Wednesday.)

Kimmel said that, in his opinion, if Oprah ran at the top of the ticket, she would easily beat both Clinton and Trump. Oprah disagreed and demurred. "It's the one thing I know for sure, sure, sure, is I will never run for office," she said. "But I would say that, for many years, I used to think — until this election year — I thought, 'Wow. Why do people say that? I have no qualifications to run.' I'm feeling pretty qualified. After this year, I'm feeling really qualified."

Later, Kimmel brought up his own campaign to be vice president. "Do you feel like I'm somebody you could endorse?" he asked Oprah. "Because I know when you endorsed President Obama, it was very, very helpful to his campaign, and I think this could be really good for me." Oprah pulled a face, asked some good questions, got no good answer, and jumped on the "America Needs a Good No. 2" train anyway. So, get ready for Vice President Kimmel. Peter Weber

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up