Trump once liked the idea of Oprah as a running mate: ‘I think we’d win easily, actually’

Oprah Winfrey’s political prospects have been subject to speculation for decades. And even President Trump has fed into it.

The former talk-show host, who accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes with a rapturous speech on Sunday, was touted by Trump as a possible running mate long before he was sworn in as president.

When the president was still a mere grandiose builder in the late 1980s, he did the rounds criticizing U.S. foreign policy after taking out a full-page ad on the topic and sparking debate about his own presidential aspirations.

Winfrey suspected that he might run some day, but Trump wasn’t so sure back then.

“I just probably wouldn’t do it, Oprah,” he told her in 1988. “I probably wouldn’t, but I do get tired of seeing what’s happening with this country, and if it got so bad, I would never want to rule it out totally, because I really am tired of seeing what’s happening with this country, how we’re really making other people live like kings, and we’re not.”

Trump told Larry King in 1987, “I have no intention of running for president.” The following year, Trump recited a similar yarn as a guest on Winfrey’s top-rated talk show, one of many dual appearances he had with her.

By the late ’90s, however, Trump was still being asked about his political aspirations and even a possible running mate.

“I love Oprah,” Trump told King in 1999. “Oprah would always be my first choice. If she’d do it, she’d be fantastic. She’s popular, she’s brilliant, she’s a wonderful woman.”

Then in June 2015, Trump circled back to that prospect, telling ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that Winfrey would be the perfect running mate who would help him clinch the election.

“I’d love to have Oprah,” Trump said. “I think we’d win easily, actually.”

But in June 2016, when Trump was the presumptive Republican nominee, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel told Winfrey that she “would beat both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton” if she ran.

However, Winfrey doubled down, much like Trump once did, saying she “would never run for office” and declared her support for Clinton.

Winfrey did tease some hope of a presidential run, though:

“For many years, I used to think — until this election year, I thought — ‘Wow, I have no…’ Why do people say that? I have no qualifications to run,” she said. “I’m feeling pretty qualified. After this year, I’m feeling really qualified.”