Lifelong Democrat George Clooney turned on President Joe Biden and demand he step aside from the 2024 race after his disastrous debate and widespread concerns of whether he can serve four more years.
The Hollywood megastar, who has hosted fundraisers for the 81-year-old, said Biden can’t win the ‘battle against time’ in a scathing op-ed for the New York Times on Wednesday morning.
The actor also condemned Democratic party leaders for ignoring ‘every warning sign’ of Biden’s declining physical and mental health and for trying to defend his car-crash performance against Donald Trump.
He added that Democrat voters ‘collectively hold our breath or turn down the volume whenever we see the president, who we respect, walk off Air Force One or walk back to a mic to answer an unscripted question.’
Clooney joins the scores of Democrats and Biden allies who have called for the president to step down in the two weeks since his meandering and mumbling showing on CNN.
Biden has insisted he is not going anywhere and insists he will still beat Trump in November, but Clooney’s comments are an enormous blow to his embattled campaign.
George Clooney, President Joe Biden, Julia Roberts and Barack Obama at the June 16 fundraiser
‘Joe Biden is a hero; he saved democracy in 2020. We need him to do it again in 2024,’ the actor wrote in the op-ed.
Clooney, who hosted a star-studded fundraiser for Biden in Los Angeles on June 16, said the person he saw there was the candidate the world saw at last week’s presidential debate.
‘I love Joe Biden. As a senator. As a vice president and as president. I consider him a friend, and I believe in him. Believe in his character. Believe in his morals. In the last four years, he’s won many of the battles he’s faced,’ Clooney wrote.
‘But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can. It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe “big F-ing deal” Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate,’ he said.
Biden and Clooney have a long relationship, going back to Biden’s day as chairman of the Senate Foreign Services Committee. Clooney was working on issues in Darfar and connected with him.
The president has honored Clooney for his support, hosting him at the White House for the Kennedy Center Honors in December 2022.
The actor has become a major force in the Democratic Party, raising millions for its candidates. He’s seen as an influential voice in American politics.
Clooney argued it was more important to beat Donald Trump in November than to keep Biden on the ticket.
‘Our party leaders need to stop telling us that 51 million people didn’t see what we just saw. We’re all so terrified by the prospect of a second Trump term that we’ve opted to ignore every warning sign,’ he wrote.
But the two men also hit some bumps in their relationship.
The actor was reportedly furious at the White House in early June after Biden attacked an attempt by Amal, Clooney’s lawyer wife, to jail the Prime Minister of Israel, it emerged on Thursday.
Amal Clooney signed off a bid by the chief prosecutor of the International Crminal Court last month to seek the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu alongside Hamas leaders for war crimes – a move the President denounced as ‘outrageous’.
Clooney reportedly called one of Biden’s closest advisers to make his feelings know.
But he still hosted a fundraiser – along with actress Julia Roberts and former President Barack Obama – later that month that helped raise $30 million for Biden’s campaign last month.
The fundraiser, however was overshadowed with questions about the president’s health after a video appeared to show Obama having to guide Biden off stage.
In the video, Biden and Obama are seen waving and smiling while receiving a standing ovation in the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
Biden applauds and gives the audience a thumbs up but then he stops moving as he stares out over the crowd for several long seconds.
That’s when Obama, still smiling and waving, took Biden by the wrist and gave him a gentle tug. That’s when the president appears to snap out of it.
They proceed to walk off the stage together with Obama speaking into Biden’s ear as he pats him on the back as they go.
The White House called the video a fake.
George Clooney visited the White House where he was honored by the President in 2022
Obama seen giving Biden’s arm a gentle tug and leading him off the stage after the president freezes during the applause at a fundraiser in Los Angeles in June
Amal Clooney and George Clooney in Rome – Clooney was reportedly furious at the White House decision to question Amal’s work on the war in Gaza
Biden has been struggling to rally Democrats around his presidential bid as calls for him to exit the presidential race grow.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi is among those appearing to question Biden’s decision to remain in the contest.
‘It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We’re all encouraging him to make that decision. Because time is running short,’ she said on Morning Joe on Wednesday.
Some Democratic lawmakers have expressed their doubts about Biden’s ability to beatTrump.
Clooney said he’s heard this concern from members of Congress he has spoken to, including worries the Democratic Party will lose the House and Senate.
‘We are not going to win in November with this president. On top of that, we won’t win the House, and we’re going to lose the Senate. This isn’t only my opinion; this is the opinion of every senator and congress member and governor that I’ve spoken with in private. Every single one, irrespective of what he or she is saying publicly,’ he wrote.
He argues a nominee should be picked at the Democratic National Convention, which will be held in Chicago August 19th through August 22nd.
And the actor suggested an array of candidates who could replace Biden and go on to win in November.
‘Let’s hear from Wes Moore and Kamala Harris and Gretchen Whitmer and Gavin Newsom and Andy Beshear and J.B. Pritzker and others,’ he said, name checking several governors and the vice president.
‘Let’s agree that the candidates not attack one another but, in the short time we have, focus on what will make this country soar. Then we could go into the Democratic convention next month and figure it out,’ he adds.
Biden has insisted he will stay in the race.
He sent a letter to all Democratic lawmakers on Monday, announcing his decision. He’s also reached out to party officials, donors and mayors as he tries to shore up his support with the party faithful.
