Bestselling spiritual author Marianne Williamson presses on with against-the-odds presidential run

Published

2 years ago

November 14, 2023

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Marianne Williamson has kept barnstorming for months across America — to audiences large and small, from churches and colleges to spiritual centers and soup kitchens — in a demanding schedule of appearances in her second tenacious, against-the-odds run for the presidency.

The bestselling spiritual author and one-time advisor to Oprah Winfrey didn’t make it to the 2020 primaries in a wide-open Democratic field. Now she is running against a sitting president from her own party, and the Democratic establishment has closed ranks behind Joe Biden.

Even some of her most devoted followers doubt she can be elected. So why is Williamson even running? She says it’s the faith she has in herself and the American people.

“The most important things you do in life, not because there’s guaranteed success on some external level, but because you feel in your heart it’s the right thing to do,” Williamson, 71, said during an interview in New York City.

She admits it has been grueling at times — not just the punishing campaign schedule, but more so the emotional bruising from a barrage of unflattering characterizations.

For her, it’s “the ultimate challenge to have tough skin, but a soft and open heart,” she said. But Williamson worries that negative perceptions detract from her policy positions, which include financial reparations for Black Americans and creation of a Department of Peace.

“What are the words they use? Wacky, kooky, crystal lady,” she said, listing the names she’s called. “People will take one line out of a book, completely out of context. That has certainly been done to me. Plus, you know, they lie.”

Born in Houston to a Jewish family, Judaism remains her core belief, and she also embraces universal spiritual themes, like loving one another. Williamson came into the spotlight with her popular 1992 book, “A Return to Love.” Oprah, highlighting it on her own site, wrote: “I have never been more moved by a book.”

Williamson, the author of more than a dozen titles and well-known for supporting LGBTQ people, retains a legion of dedicated fans. Millions buy her books, attend her lectures and engage with her on TikTok.

“She is extremely sincere in her beliefs, wise in many ways even,” said Issac Bailey, a communications professor at Davidson College in North Carolina who has written about Williamson’s faith and politics. “But she also has a streak that takes her beyond the pale.”

He pointed to her wariness and sharp criticism of government vaccine mandates that came up during her last campaign. She later said she supports vaccines.

“I’m a socially middle of the road Jew who goes to the doctor,” she said. “I’m not a crystal lady. I understand how important science is.”

Williamson entered politics with an unsuccessful independent congressional campaign in California in 2014, then broke onto the national stage two years later as a vocal supporter of Bernie Sanders’ failed presidential bid.

In 2020, she entered the race herself. She acknowledges making what she calls “cringeworthy” comments back then, like how she would harness love to defeat former President Donald Trump.

“Once they could be contextualized in a way that made me appear silly, there was almost no getting past the mockery,” she said.

People may embrace quasi-spiritual language in their private lives, but if it’s from political candidates, it typically doesn’t play well on the campaign trail, said Galen Watts, a sociology and legal studies professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada.

But this is not new territory for Williamson. For years, she has been under fire from intellectuals who call her theology too shallow, from politicians who mock her ideas, and more recently from some former campaign staff who say she’s irascible and is only trying to sell more books. She concedes that she probably swore more than she should have in her last campaign, but scoffs at the book-selling gibe.

“The way to sell books is by going on a book tour, not a presidential campaign,” she said. “The way to sell books in my field is to never mention politics.”

Some have questioned her political inexperience. But she dismisses that: “I reject the notion that only those whose careers have been ensconced in the car that drove us into this ditch are the only people we should consider qualified to drive us out of the ditch.”

She announced her candidacy in February, and now is arguably the best-known Democrat still challenging Biden for the party’s 2024 presidential nomination. But recent polls show her running more than 60 percentage points behind.

She is well-liked by many young people, including Jose Serna, a 21-year-old at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Serna hopes she stays in the race “because she is illuminating the ideas that young people care about” including Medicare for all, equitable wages and affordable housing.

“While I do believe that it is unlikely that Marianne will win the nomination, it is not because of her policies,” he said, citing a common complaint by Williamson and her backers about a lack of media attention.

Marie Griffith, a professor of women, gender and sexuality studies at Washington University in St. Louis, says there’s a practical reason why Williamson stands no chance of winning.

“She has no connection that I know of to Democratic machine politics — meaning the people who raise all the money and make or break the political careers of those identifying as Democrats,” Griffith said.

Williamson talks at times in religious and spiritual terms to describe America as a nation in need of confession and atonement. She worries about vast economic inequality and wants to declare a climate emergency.

One of her signature policy proposals would have the government pay Black citizens reparations for centuries of enslavement and discrimination. She advocated for this in her 1997 book “The Healing of America.” Today, she proposes creating a council of Black academic, cultural and political leaders to disperse at least $1 trillion to Black Americans over two decades.

Author and rabbi Jay Michaelson lauded Williamson for raising the issue before other political candidates, and for her work during the AIDS crisis, but in 2019 he wrote a scathing critique of her bid for president. He called her “selfish, deluded and dumb by denigrating science” and said she gives spiritually a bad name.

Michaelson, in a recent interview, said he agreed with Williamson “that our spiritual commitments and our religious commitments should impact our political lives.” But he says she will remain a fringe candidate because some of her policy positions are too radical for many.

“To say, ‘We need a politics of love’ without explaining what that is,” he said. “Or that we need a new paradigm, or that we need some kind of revolution — that doesn’t play on Main Street.”

Williamson denies denigrating science and disputes broader criticisms of her campaign.

“This idea that I am unserious — my campaign is the one talking about one in four Americans living with medical debt. My campaign is the one talking about the fact that the majority of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck,” she said.

“My campaign is the most serious campaign.”

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Politics

Comeback kid: Rachel Reeves’s revival plan

Published

2 hours ago

July 14, 2025

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Comeback kid: Rachel Reeves's revival plan

👉Listen to Politics At Sam And Anne’s on your podcast app👈

The chancellor is back out on the road to start the government’s re-launch week, ahead of the parliamentary recess.

In today’s episode, Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy explain how comments on a proposed wealth tax by Rachel Reeves’s cabinet colleagues may have already put her in a tricky situation.

Elsewhere, Buckingham Palace has confirmed that Windsor Castle will host US President Donald Trump for a second unprecedented state visit in September.

UK

Southend Airport remains closed after ‘fireball’ plane crash

Published

2 hours ago

July 14, 2025

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Southend Airport remains closed after 'fireball' plane crash

Southend Airport has been closed until further notice after a small plane crashed – as video footage emerged showing the aftermath of a huge fireball.

Images posted online showed large flames and a cloud of black smoke following the incident on Sunday afternoon.

Essex Police said it responded to “reports of a collision involving one 12-metre plane” shortly before 4pm.

“We are working with all emergency services at the scene now and that work will be ongoing for several hours,” the statement said.

“We would please ask the public to avoid this area where possible while this work continues.”

Southend Airport said it would be “closed until further notice” due to the “serious incident”.

“We ask that any passengers due to travel (on Monday) via London Southend Airport contact their airline for information and advice,” it added.

Zeusch Aviation, based at Lelystad Airport in the Netherlands, confirmed its SUZ1 flight had been “involved in an accident” at the airport and its thoughts were with “everyone who has been affected”.

It has been reported that the plane involved in the incident is a Beech B200 Super King Air.

According to flight-tracking service Flightradar, it took off at 3.48pm and was bound for Lelystad, a city in the Netherlands.

Pilots ‘waved’ to families watching planes

One man, who was at the airport with his wife and children, told Sky News the plane crashed within seconds of taking off.

John Johnson said the pilots “waved” at his family as they taxied the aircraft.

“We all waved [back] at them,” he continued. “They carried on taxiing to their take-off point and turned around.

“Then they throttled up the engines and passed by us. The aircraft took off and within a few seconds it had a steep bank angle to its left.”

The aircraft then “almost seemed to invert and unfortunately crashed,” he said. “There was a large fireball.”

‘Airport was in lockdown’

Wren Stranix, 16, from Woodbridge in Suffolk, was in another aircraft waiting to take off for Newquay, Cornwall, with her family and boyfriend when the plane came down.

They watched from their aircraft as the emergency services arrived and were not able to leave their seats.

“The flight attendant didn’t know what was going on,” she told Sky News. “They said the plane had exploded and they didn’t know if it was safe or not. The airport was in lockdown.”

They were eventually allowed back in the terminal to wait before all flights were cancelled.

Southend Airport said the incident involved “a general aviation aircraft”.

After the incident, EasyJet – one of just a few airlines that uses the airport – said all of its remaining flights to and from Southend had been “diverted to alternative airports or are no longer able to operate”.

The airline said it has contacted customers who were due to travel on Sunday. Anyone due to fly on Monday should check online for up-to-date information, it added.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service said four crews, along with off-road vehicles, have attended the scene.

The East of England Ambulance Service said four ambulances, four hazardous area response team vehicles and an air ambulance had been sent to the incident.

David Burton-Sampson, the MP for Southend West and Leigh, asked people to keep away from the area and “allow the emergency services to do their work” in a post on social media.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she was “monitoring the situation closely and receiving regular updates”.

Essex Police have set up a dedicated public portal and phone line where people can contact them about the crash at https://esxpol.uk/LIbaz and on 0800 0961011.

Chief Superintendent Morgan Cronin said: “In these very early stages it is vital we gather the information we need, and continue supporting the people of Essex.”

He added: “We are working closely with all at the scene, as well as the Air Accident Investigation Branch, to establish what has happened today and why.”

Environment

Honda’s super low-cost electric motorcycle revealed in new patent images

Published

2 hours ago

July 14, 2025

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Honda's super low-cost electric motorcycle revealed in new patent images

Honda’s patent filings offer a clear glimpse into the company’s plans for an ultra-affordable electric motorcycle, integrating a proven chassis with a simple electric powertrain. It’s a clear glimpse into how the world’s most prolific motorcycle maker plans to challenge the nascent electric motorcycle market.

The filings in Honda’s new patent show a bike built around the familiar platform of the Honda Shine 100, a best-selling commuter in India, reimagined in electric form for a cost-effective future of urban mobility.

According to Cycle World’s Ben Purvis, Honda’s patent sketches outline a design that repurposes the Shine’s sturdy frame and chassis mounting points to house an electric motor and compact battery setup. Positioned where the engine once sat, a mid-motor drives the rear wheel via a single-speed reduction gear and chain – mirroring the essentials of the original gasoline-powered commuter bike.

Instead of a traditional fuel tank, the design features two lithium-ion battery packs, angled forward on either side of the spine frame and fitting neatly into the existing geometry.

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What makes the bike revealed in this patent even more interesting isn’t just its clever packaging, but rather the platform. By leveraging the proven Shine chassis, Honda can significantly cut development costs, manufacturing complexity, and market price. That’s a big statement given that surviving in price-sensitive markets like India demands simplicity and reliability. And by piggybacking off a proven platform, Honda can dramatically reduce the time to market from the time the boardroom bigwigs give the project the final green light.

Honda’s patent images show an electric motorcycle built on the same platform as the Honda Shine 100

The design still seems to feature styling that would be fairly consistent with the Shine 100, even down to a gas cap-like circular protrusion likely on top of a faux-tank. Some electric motorcycles in the past have used this location to hide a charging port, keeping similar form and function to outdated fuel tanks and fill ports, though it’s not clear if that is Honda’s intention.

It’s not clear what power level Honda could be targeting, but the Shine bike from which Honda’s creation draws its design inspiration could provide some clues. The Honda Shine 100 features a 99cc engine that provides around 7.3 horsepower (around 5.5 kW) and has a top speed of 85 km/h (53 mph), solidly planting it in the commuter segment of motorcycles.

The electric motorcycle in Honda’s design would be unlikely to target much higher performance as it would drastically increase the required battery capacity, and thus similar speeds of around 80-85 km/h (50-53 mph) would seem likely.

There also appears to be no active cooling, which would also limit the amount of power that Honda would be likely to draw continuously. The patent describes a channel formed by the two battery packs, leading to the speed controller and creating ducted cooling that pulls heat out of the batteries and electronics without drawing extra power.

Honda hasn’t released a final design, but I ask AI to create one based on the patent images. I’d ride that!

This emerging design is just one piece of Honda’s broader electric two-wheeler strategy. Their entry-level EM1 e: and Activa e: scooters launched with mobile battery packs and budget-friendly pricing. Meanwhile, high-tech concepts continually push the envelope. But this Shine-based bike aims squarely at the heart of mainstream affordability – a move likely to resonate with millions of new electric riders in developing regions like India where traditionally-styled small-dsiplacement motorcycles reign supreme.

Honda hasn’t revealed a timeline or pricing yet, but Honda’s patents offer real hope to fans of the brand’s electric efforts. If scaled effectively, this could be the first truly mass-market electric motorcycle from a major OEM, with a sticker price likely far below the $5,000 mark usually seen as a floor for commuter electric motorcycles from major manufacturers. That would also dramatically undercut models from brands like Zero or Harley-Davidson’s LiveWire, even as those brands rush to bring their own lower-cost models to market.

Electrek’s Take

Honda’s patent reveals a clever, no-frills EV designed to democratize electric two-wheeling, especially in developing markets that are even more price-sensitive than Western electric motorcycle customers.

Using a trusted frame, simple electric drive, and passive cooling, I’d say it definitely prioritizes cost over complexity, which is exactly what urban commuters need. If Honda can bring this to market, it would not just add another electric bike to the mix… it could create a new baseline for affordability in affordable electric mobility. Now we’re just waiting for the rubber to hit the road!

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