Marianne Williamson deletes tweet saying 'power of the mind' helped turn Dorian
Spiritual guru and self-help author Marianne Williamson on Wednesday posted and then deleted a tweet suggesting that the "power of the mind" helped turn Hurricane Dorian away from delivering a more dangerous blow to the United States.
“The Bahamas, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas...may all be in our prayers now,” the Democratic presidential candidate said in the original tweet, adding, “Millions of us seeing Dorian turn away from land is not a wacky idea; it is a creative use of the power of the mind. Two minutes of prayer, visualization, meditation for those in the way of the storm.”
After deleting the tweet, she posted a replacement message that read: "Prayers for the people of the Bahamas, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. May the peace of God be upon them and their hearts be comforted as they endure the storm."
The Category 2 storm has been threatening parts of the Caribbean and the southeastern U.S. for more than a week. It ravaged the Bahamas earlier this week, where it made landfall as a Category 5 storm, killing at least seven there, according to the latest counts.
The storm is now forecast to move up the East Coast throughout the week, prompting emergency declarations in several states.
Williamson, a giant in the self-help field for decades, has gained viral fame throughout her run for president, campaigning on a platform to beat President Donald Trump by harnessing the power of love and in the process making her the star of memes and a winner of the Google search primary following the first two debates.
She’s lasted longer in the race than sitting governors and members of Congress, though she failed to meet the polling threshold required to participate in next week's primary debate.
Williamson has begun to push back more on being written off because of her quirks, and has claimed in recent interviews that a string of news stories highlighting her past skepticism of vaccines and antidepressants were part of a smear campaign.
In a New York Times Magazine profile published this week, she expressed confusion about why people associated her with the practice of healing crystals, and suggested there was a double standard when it came to perceptions of her campaign.
“When David Brooks says it, it’s profound,” she said of the Times columnist. “When I say it, it’s woo-woo.”
Williamson spent Wednesday rebutting critics of her initial post, including some who compared her suggestion to the "thoughts and prayers" refrain mocked by gun control advocates following a mass shooting, a characterization she rejected.
She also defended the power of prayer, asserting that the dismissive and mocking reactions to her tweet were examples of how the left lost ground with religious voters.
"Prayer is a power of the mind, and it is neither bizarre nor unintelligent," she wrote Wednesday afternoon. "People of faith belong in the Democratic Party, and will be necessary to the effort if we’re to win in 2020."
In another tweet, she added: "I was born and raised in Texas so I’ve seen it. Millions of people today are praying that Dorian turn away from land, and treating those people with mockery or condescension because they believe it could help is part of how the overly secularized Left has lost lots of voters."
Her initial suggestion for those in Dorian's path is hardly the only unconventional proposal for dealing with storms as hurricane season continues to unfold. Last week, Axios reported that Trump on multiple occasions throughout his presidency proposed dropping a nuclear bomb to disrupt hurricanes before they struck, though Trump has vehemently denied the story.
