The Self-Centered Religion of Williamson and Trump

On the surface, dark horse Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson and President Trump could not be more different. The president tweets insults, stokes crowds into a rage and rattles the sword. He uses the often-jingoistic language of muscular Christianity ("In America we worship God, not government") to evoke the vision of a middle America made "great again." Meanwhile, Williamson, a self-help spiritualist (and onetime adviser to Oprah Winfrey), preaches a gospel of "love" and "oneness," blending a chipper New Age sensibility with progressive politics. In the Democratic debate Tuesday, she condemned the "dark psychic force" of hatred that she said Trump has unleashed, saying it could be combated only by "something emotional and psychological" — which only she could bring forth — accompanied by a dose of "deep truth-telling" on the subject of race. She's called for a "moral and spiritual awakening" in the United States.