Oprah Winfrey suggested she run for the White House in 2020 with Mitt Romney on a 'unity ticket' to stop Trump getting elected, new book claims

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Oprah Winfrey suggested teaming up with Sen. Mitt Romney on a 2020 White House run in an effort to beat out Donald Trump, according to a forthcoming book.

There was frequent speculation that the talk show host was weighing a run before the election, and analysts said her popularity and wealth would have made her a formidable candidate.

Now it appears that Winfrey, a Democrat, made a pitch to the Republican senator, who lost to Barack Obama in the 2012 election, that they run together 'to save the country.' 

Romney revealed the plan to author McKay Coppins and is included in his new book, 'Romney: A Reckoning,' which is published next Tuesday.

The senator apparently dismissed the idea for fear it would help rather than hinder Trump. 

Oprah Winfrey suggested teaming up with Sen. Mitt Romney on a 2020 White House run in an effort to beat out Donald Trump , according to a forthcoming book

Winfrey thought their ticket would appeal to both Republicans and Democrats, offering the best chance to stop Donald Trump being reelected in 2020

The details were reported Monday by Axios, citing a source familiar with the manuscript.

It is the clearest indication yet of Winfrey's political ambitions.

Soon after Trump was elected, she admitted that she was thinking about a political career.

Fellow billionaire David Rubenstein in an interview pointed out that it was now clear that lack of political experience need not be a barrier to winning election.

'That's what I thought,' she said in response. 'I thought, "Oh gee, I don’t have the experience, I don't know enough. 

'And now I'm thinking, "Oh! Oh."' 

The speculation reached fever pitch in early 2018 after she delivered a speech at the Golden Globes awards at the height of the #MeToo movement.

'I want all the girls watching here, now, to know that a new day is on the horizon,' she said as she accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award.

'And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men, fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say "Me too" again.'

'Romney: A Reckoning' will be published by Scribner on October 24

After the speech, her longtime partner Stedman Graham said a run was possible. 

'It's up to the people,' Stedman Graham told the Los Angeles Times. 'She would absolutely do it.'

Romney, 76, is stepping down from the Senate at the end of next year.

In recent years he has been one of the loudest anti-Trump voices in the Republican Party and has clashed frequently with the former president.

Last week he implored Republican donors to throw their weight behind a single rival to Trump in the nomination race.

During a closed door conversation at the two-day forum in Park City, Utah, Romney said he would be happy with any one of them winning the nomination, according to The Washington Post.

'I think our party has multiple personality disorder, and I think the Democratic Party does as well,' the 2012 Republican presidential nominee said Tuesday.

'I think we're schizophrenic. We don't know what we are or what we stand for within our party.'