Longtime Democrat and Oscar-winning actor George Clooney called on President Joe Biden to end his reelection bid and allow the Democratic Party to begin the process of selecting a new nominee for November’s ticket.
In an op-ed penned for The New York Times, Clooney wrote that while he loves President Biden as a person and politician, “the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time.”
“We are not going to win in November with this president,” he wrote. “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.”
The actor added that while the process of selecting a new nominee might be “messy” it would “enliven our party and wake up voters who, long before the June debate, had already checked out.”
Clooney added that through his own personal interactions with the president, it’s become clear to him that “the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago […] 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.”
“This is about age. Nothing more,” Clooney wrote.
Three weeks ago, Clooney hosted a large fundraiser in Los Angeles on Biden’s behalf. While the event raised $30 million for the Biden-Harris campaign, many attendees left with the impression that Biden was in decline — a reality that only became more stark on debate night.
Earlier this week, Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter in the Obama-Biden administration and the host of Pod Save America, noted that the hosts of the podcast had raised concerns about Biden’s performance following their attendance at the fundraiser.
“It was really bad,” he relayed. His co-host Tommy Vietor, a former spokesperson for the Obama administration, added that the event was “chilling, it was very, very, very unnerving.”
The hosts pointed out that recent incidents like the fundraiser and the debate had fundamentally changed the calculus of Biden’s nomination, a sentiment that Clooney echoed in his piece for the Times.
“It is disingenuous, at best, to argue that Democrats have already spoken with their vote and therefore the nomination is settled and done, when we just received new and upsetting information,” he wrote.
Clooney is not the only prominent Hollywood Democrat to call on Biden to step down from his campaign.
Actor and director Rob Reiner wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that “It’s time to stop fucking around/ If the Convicted Felon wins, we lose our Democracy. Joe Biden has effectively served US with honor, decency, and dignity. It’s time for Joe Biden to step down,”
Earlier this week, author and longtime Democrat Stephen King wrote on X that “Joe Biden has been a fine president, but it’s time for him—in the interests of the America he so clearly loves—to announce he will not run for re-election.”
Oscar-winning film director Michael Moore accused those advising the president to stay in the race of “elder abuse,” during Monday’s episode of his Rumble podcast. “He was in epic distress [during the debate],” Moore said. “Every cognitive default in his mind seemed to be shutting down. If this had been somebody that you truly cared about, loved, embraced, what would you have done? Would you have seriously even let him go out on that stage?”
“Let him rest. Let him go home. He has done his job. Let him have his dignity,” he added.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
