Actor and director George Clooney on Wednesday called on President Joe Biden to voluntarily step aside and not seek a second term in office.
The A-list star’s pronouncement came just weeks after he and actress Julia Roberts, as well as former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, participated in a star-studded recorded-breaking $30 million fundraiser for the president’s re-election in Los Angeles.
In a piece for The New York Times, Clooney wrote, “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.”
“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,” the actor continued.
“He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate,” Clooney shared.
Biden made headlines at the L.A. fundraiser in mid-June when he appeared to freeze and was led offstage by Obama.
That’s a wrap on record-setting Democratic fundraiser for Joe Biden’s reelection campaign (netting $28M). Former President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden offer final waves to Peacock Theater crowd as Obama then grabs Biden’s hand to lead him offstage following 40-minute… pic.twitter.com/xbE2jf3jdz
— Chris Gardner (@chrissgardner) June 16, 2024
“Was he tired? Yes. A cold? Maybe. But our party leaders need to stop telling us that 51 million people didn’t see what we just saw [at the debate],” Clooney wrote. “We’re all so terrified by the prospect of a second [Donald] Trump term that we’ve opted to ignore every warning sign.”
Do you think Biden will be the Democrats’ nominee?
“The George Stephanopoulos interview only reinforced what we saw the week before,” he added.
During a Friday sit-down with the ABC host, Biden could not recall whether he had even watched his June 27 debate against Donald Trump afterward.
And when Stephanopoulos asked the president, “Did you know how badly it was going?”, Biden gave an incoherent response, saying he prepared for the debate in “explicit detail.”
“And I realized about part way through …” he continued and then didn’t finish his thought, but noted, “The New York Times had me down at 10 points before the debate, nine now, or whatever the hell it is.”
“The fact of the matter is that what I looked at is [Trump] also lied 28 times, I mean, the way the debate ran. Not … my fault, no one else’s fault,” Biden said.
Clooney predicted, “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.”
“Top Democrats — Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, Nancy Pelosi — and senators, representatives and other candidates who face losing in November need to ask this president to voluntarily step aside,” he asserted.
Clooney suggested that the party consider Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Vice President Kamala Harris, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker among others to replace Biden.
He argued that making a pick so close to the election will actually help Democrats because it will give Republicans less time to effectively conduct opposition research and convey what they learned to voters.
The Hollywood star concluded, “Joe Biden is a hero; he saved democracy in 2020. We need him to do it again in 2024.”
Biden is facing increasing calls within his party to step aside and allow Democrats to nominate a new candidate at the party’s convention next month in Chicago.
