Meet the kooky, spiritual Democratic presidential dark horse described as the "leftwing Trump"

The left-wing version of Donald Trump – perhaps soon to be his nemesis – could well turn out to be a highly groomed and imposingly articulate best-selling author of spiritual books. Marianne Williamson was written off as a joke until last month when, almost 30 minutes into the televised Democratic debate, as if emerging from a pupa of deep meditation, she calmly blindsided Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders and the entire line-up of career politicians beside her, with a solemn vow to “harness love” to defeat the fear-mongering president.

Within seconds the author of books such as The Age of Miracles and A Course in Weight Loss, the Tweeter of bon mots such as “The power of your mind is greater than the power of nuclear radiation”, and the advocate of what some Democrats are now describing forcefully as dangerous medical quackery was trending on social media. Now she’s through to this week’s second round of debates, and there are a great many Americans who will be watching for her unpredictable contribution alone.

Williamson grew up in Texas, has lived most of her life in California and, in a bid to garner precious votes in the early caucus state of Iowa, recently took the unusual step of moving to its capital, Des Moines. But her accent is strangely borderless – she doesn’t so much speak as orate, in the low, deliberate, somewhat husky tones of a philosopher: the voice of, it was noted on Twitter, “someone who just dumped Humphrey Bogart”.

eddie wrote:She sounds like the sort of politician I’d be

eddie wrote:She sounds like the sort of politician I’d be

Maddog wrote:

eddie wrote:She sounds like the sort of politician I’d be

She is a lot like you.