Michael Moore appeared on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday and suggested it was time for Democrats to think about running beloved non-politicians like Oprah Winfrey and Tom Hanks for president.

CNN’s Jake Tapper played a clip in which Oprah expressed her renewed hope based on what she saw last week during Donald Trump’s meeting with President Obama. “To hear president-elect Trump say that he had respect for President Obama—it felt that he had reached a moment where he was actually humbled by that experience…I think everybody can take a deep breath,” Oprah said.

Michael Moore replied, “Well, that’s why we love Oprah.”  He added, “Somebody needs to say that. We do need hope.” But then Moore went on to say, “Look that’s the sideshow that needs to happen in a week like this but, frankly, Democrats would be better off if they ran Oprah or Tom Hanks.” “Why don’t we run beloved people? We have so many of them. The Republicans do this. They run Reagan and the Terminator and other people. Why don’t we…why don’t we run somebody that the American people love?” he said.

This is exactly the turn I predicted Democrats might make when I wrote about their thin bench last Wednesday:

Schwarzenegger really was the forerunner of Trump in many ways. So here’s the point with regard to the Democrat’s weak bench: At some point Democrats are going to realize that this celebrity candidate strategy will work for them too. They may not have anyone who can step up from the political wing of the party, but they have plenty of folks who could step up from the entertainment wing.

Does anyone think Tom Hanks couldn’t run and win the presidency? Of course he could. Why wouldn’t Democrats seriously consider someone like Hanks or Oprah as a way to reclaim the White House in 2020. They really don’t have any better options at this point.

The discussion of Oprah begins at about 3:30 in this clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6mX0iOcyls