It has been noted that actor and longtime Democratic fundraiser George Clooney penned a New York Times op-ed calling on President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race via Mediaite.
Weeks before the release of Clooney’s piece in The Times, the Hollywood celebrity hosted a major fundraiser for the presumptive Democratic nominee that raked in $28 million. However, after Biden’s performance in the June 27 debate against Donald Trump, Clooney has changed his tune on the president.
It has come to light that Democratic strategists, pundits, and lawmakers in recent days have called on Biden to bow out of the race due to his poor showing at the debate. Biden had difficulty answering some questions and spoke with a raspy voice.
Clooney noted in his Wednesday opinion piece that he has supported the last three Democratic presidential nominees and led some of the biggest fundraisers in the party’s history. He expressed his love for Biden, adding that he considers the president a “close friend.”
“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. He went on to claim that Biden did not appear mentally fit when they met at the fundraiser three weeks ago, writing, “he wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020.”
Clooney continued, “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.”
Later in the op-ed, Clooney noted Biden’s recent interview with George Stephanopoulos as reasoning behind his demands calling for the president to step out of the race.
“As Democrats, we 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 wrote.
Clooney then claimed that “every senator and congress member and governor” that he has spoken to in private believes Democrats “are not going to win in November with this president.”
