Kirsten Gillibrand Running For President In 2020? Al Sharpton Jokes About It

Rev. Al Sharpton, joked about recruiting junior Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) to run for President, after her invigorating speech at an annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day event Monday.

The event which included a room of politicians, some of whom were rumored to eye the presidency, saw Gillibrand shine with the best-received speech, leading the crowd to take to their feet, the New York Daily News reported.

The speech prompted Sharpton to say: “Reverend Kirsten Gillibrand. Reverend Kirsten Gillibrand … You know, I don’t want to start nothing senator, but I helped start that — when I was a kid I helped start ‘Run, Jesse, Run.’ You be careful here.”

“Anybody that can take Harlem on a Saturday morning is a different kind of woman,” Sharpton added. “Trump, you better get your best gloves out and order you three Big Macs rather than two, because we’ve got a fighter from New York.”

Sharpton’s sentiment was supported by New York National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) head Hazel Dukes who shouted: “Let’s hear it. Let’s hear it. She gonna run, she gonna run.”

In the inspiring speech-turned-sermon, Gillibrand quoted scripture saying: “Ephesians says to fight against evil even when it comes from the highest places in the land. We should put on the full armor of God. The Bible says put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”

“When we see hate and division in our communities, when we hear those hateful words from our President, when we see someone bullying someone or attacking them or making them feel vulnerable, we are called to be the light, we are called to be the light of the world — which means we must stand up between them, we are the ones who say: ‘No, not on our watch, no, not in my community, no, not here, not right now,’” the junior senator said as she drew parallels between the biblical book of Esther — the story of a queen from the old testament who stops a genocide — and the current political climate of the country.

Earlier in December 2017, the president and the 51-year-old junior senator squared off on Twitter. Trump in response to her denouncing his support for Senate candidate Roy Moore (the New York senator called it “shameful,” and wanted the president to resign), took aim at Gillibrand saying she would come “begging” to his office for campaign contributions “and would do anything for them.”

Gillibrand was at the time at a bipartisan Bible study session with Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.). Calling Trump’s tweet a “sexist smear,” the democratic senator said she refuses to be silenced about the “unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office.”

Experts pointed to the fact that the exchange was probably great publicity for the democrat as a Washington Post article speculated that the attack may have done “more political good than harm.” The article also said there is “speculation that she will renege on her vow not to run for president in 2020.”