Actress Cynthia Nixon — best known as Miranda on “Sex and the City” — is calling for a “twist” on the State of the Union address this year.
Instead of the president using his platform to give the people recommendations,”How about the people of this country give him their recommendations for what is necessary?” Nixon wrote in an op-ed for CNN, published Monday.
She continued by pointing out that Trump’s first year in office has been “a dark year” for those in America “who value equal rights for all, or economic and racial justice, or want to combat climate change.”
“We’ve taken huge steps backwards,” the Tony winner said (she’s also won a Grammy and two Emmys).
She said that the “bleak” picture of Trump’s America has a silver lining: “America is still a democracy and the people can hold their leaders accountable,” she wrote. “That’s why it’s time to take our government back.”
Instead of the usual call to vote, Nixon said that in order to “take our government back,” citizens will have to do more than show up at the polls. She suggests “protesting anti-immigrant policies, organizing for women’s rights, refusing to give polluters our business, demonstrating against police violence, or even taking the leap to run for office ourselves.”
“Everyday people running means more people of color, more women, more queer people, more first-generation Americans, more allies — more of the people whose voices have been missing for far too long,” Nixon continued. “We may not have million dollar super PACs behind us, but we’ll have something more important — a shared mission uniting millions of people across this nation.”
There has been speculation that Nixon herself is interested in running for office. In an interview on the “Today” show in August, she addressed “rumors” that she’ll run for governor of New York City. She said at the time she couldn’t make any promises, but said “You know, I think there are a lot of people who would like me to run … for a variety of reasons.”
“If we’ve learned anything during this first year of the Trump presidency, it’s that the cavalry isn’t coming to save us,” she said in her CNN op-ed. “We ourselves are the cavalry.”
Read the full piece here.