Chris Stirewalt on Marianne Williamson: Press will 'eat up' idea of 'hippy lady with crystals'

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2020 Marianne Williamson pledges that she will make America a better place to grow up than New Zealand

Ed presses Marianne Williamson on her odd pledge about New Zealand.

Fox News politics editor Chris Stirewalt predicted that long-shot presidential candidate Marianne Williamson would get "tons" of press attention due to her reputation as a "hippy" and spiritual guru.

"She's odd enough and she's famous enough and she's good at television enough -- she'll get tons of coverage," Stirewalt said during "The Candidates" podcast published on Tuesday.

"The political press will eat up the idea of this sort of hippy lady with the crystals and the soapstone and all that stuff."

Stirewalt agreed with Fox News host Dana Perino in observing that Williamson had passionate supporters. "Dana's right. There is this deep affinity here. The people who like her -- there are not a ton of them but they really like her because they believe this is a spiritual movement that they're a part of, that this is about healing the country."

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Perino, who was a fan of Williamson's writing and read one of her books in college, told "The Candidates" host Bret Baier that while Williamson seemed committed to the race, she seemed to have unrealistic policy proposals.

"A lot of her policy prescriptions, I think wow, you want to get rid of... all nuclear weapons -- a nice goal but there's just not a lot of realism here," she said.

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Perino noted, however, that Williamson piqued some people's interest in Iowa. Williamson, Perino said, might not become president but she could make it to the Iowa caucuses in February.

Despite her intense criticism of President Trump, Williamson has faced comparisons to him in her status as an outsider and her focus on the corruption inherent in America's political system. Williamson has authored more than a dozen books, including several New York Times bestsellers, and was able to land a spot in the first Democratic primary debate in June.

Listen to the full interview on the latest episode of "The Candidates with Bret Baier" here, and subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts.