George Clooney calls for Biden to step down, citing signs of his age at fundraiser
Actor George Clooney, a longtime fundraiser for the Democratic party, called for a new nominee to replace Joe Biden and revealed the president he saw at a fundraiser in June “was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”
In an op-ed published in The New York Times on Wednesday, Clooney writes the Biden he was with last month “was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010” or “even the Joe Biden of 2020.” In the face of concerns over a second Donald Trump presidential term, he says the Democratic party has “opted to ignore every warning sign.”
“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,” Clooney writes of Biden’s disastrous debate performance.
Clooney says he considers Biden a friend and that this is “about age. Nothing more. But also nothing that can be reversed.”
“We are not going to win in November with this president,” he writes.
About two weeks before last month’s debate, Clooney co-hosted a star-studded Los Angeles fundraiser for the Biden campaign that raised $30 million — breaking the record for the Democratic Party’s largest fundraising event.
With the “new and upsetting information” about Biden, however, Clooney argues it is “disingenuous” to say Democrats are already settled on the nomination and calls out Democratic lawmakers who are “opting to wait and see if the dam breaks.”
“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,” Clooney writes. “We can put our heads in the sand and pray for a miracle in November, or we can speak the truth.”
Rob Reiner, another prominent Hollywood Democrat who held a campaign fundraiser with Vice President Kamala Harris two days after the debate, agreed with Clooney in a post on X on Wednesday. He wrote Clooney’s op-ed “clearly expressed what many of us have been saying. … We need someone younger to fight back. Joe Biden must step aside.”
Reiner’s latest comments renewed his call from earlier this week for Biden to step down, writing in an X post that “It’s time to stop fucking around.”
A spokesperson for the Biden campaign directed POLITICO to the president’s Monday letter to Hill Democrats, in which he stated he was “firmly committed to staying in this race.”
At least eight House Democrats have publicly called on Biden to bow out from the race after a stumbling debate performance sparked worries over his age and ability to seek reelection. Senate Democrats met on Tuesday to discuss the president’s standing on the ticket but left largely stuck in limbo about the best next move.
Clooney opened the door to hear from other Democrats who could replace Biden, specifically listing Harris and Govs. Wes Moore, Gretchen Whitmer, Gavin Newsom, Andy Beshear and JB Pritzker. He conceded it could make the Democratic National Convention “messy” but welcomed it as “a benefit for us, not a danger.”
“But would it enliven our party and wake up voters who, long before the June debate, had already checked out? It sure would,” Clooney writes.
“Joe Biden is a hero; he saved democracy in 2020,” he adds. “We need him to do it again in 2024.”
