Oprah Winfrey delivered a damning final warning about the dangers of a second Donald Trump term at Kamala Harris’s last rally of her presidential election campaign.
The veteran talk show host joined the vice president at her star-studded Philadelphia rally on Monday night, marking the last of her five campaign stops in the must-win swing state Pennsylvania on Election Day eve.
After pop star Lady Gaga sang a rendition of Irving Berlin’s God Save America, Oprah arrived on stage and delivered her final pitch to Americans to vote, warning that democracy may hang in the balance if Trump is re-elected.
“You have got to vote. And listen, I know some of you are feeling burnt out and bruised and maybe inconsequential. Nothing could be further from the truth. Every single vote, every one is going to matter,” the media mogul said.
“If we don’t show up tomorrow, it is entirely possible that we will not have the opportunity to cast a ballot again.”
Oprah warned that America stands on the “precipice of danger” and claimed that those reluctant to vote for a presidential candidate risk relinquishing their control to an authoritarian regime.
“And let me be very clear: if you do not make sure that the people in your life can get to the polls, that is a mistake. Deciding not to decide, that is most definitely a vote to let other people control your future,” she continued.
“We are voting to save ourselves from this precipice of danger where we now stand.
“All the anxiety and fear you are feeling, you’re feeling that because you sense the danger. And you change that with your vote.”
Oprah’s warning comes as Trump has ramped up his authoritarian rhetoric during his campaign and hinted that, if he wins the 2024 race, he would make it so that Americans never need to vote again.
In late July, after Harris rose to the top of the Democratic ticket, Trump told a Christian audience in Florida they should “get out and vote, just this time”, adding that “you won’t have to do it any more,” if he wins on November 5.
A chorus of Democrats branded the statement “terrifying” while Trump surrogates brushed off the remark as a joke.
The GOP presidential nominee also called for the deployment of the military last month to handle “radical left lunatics,” branding his political opponents as the “enemy from within” and calling for their imprisonment.
Both Harris and Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff John Kelly have condemned the former president as a fascist who could rule as a dictator, with the vice president last week rebuking Trump as a “wannabe dictator” and a “petty tyrant.”
Equally apprehensive doomsayers in Trump’s camp have also claimed that a Harris win will take away voters’ rights.
Trump megadonor and likely cabinet member Elon Musk sat down with Joe Rogan on Monday as the podcaster finally announced his endorsement of the former president.
“If Trump doesn’t win this is the last election,” Musk said.
“I think you’re right,” Rogan chimed in. “I think a lot of people are waking up and realize – that have been lifelong Democrats… like I can’t do this anymore.
Musk added: “You and I used to be Democrats.”
“It’s nuts, it’s nuts,” Rogan added.
Musk made similar comments last month as he joined Trump on stage at a Butler, Pennsylvania, rally, claiming that “this will be the last election” if the Republican candidate doesn’t win.
