George Clooney has written an op-ed for The New York Times in which he joins the growing number of Hollywood voices urging Joe Biden to step down as the 2024 Democratic nominee for president. Clooney, who co-hosted a huge Hollywood fundraiser for Biden in June that raised a record $28 million, has seemingly changed his tune after Biden’s disastrous performance in the first presidential debate against Donald Trump.
“I love Joe Biden. As a senator. As a vice president and as president,” Clooney wrote. “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.”
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“But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time,” he continued, “None of us can. It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser 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.”
Clooney noted that Democrats have been “all so terrified by the prospect of a second Trump term that we’ve opted to ignore every warning sign” when it comes to Biden’s aging. The Oscar winner said that Biden’s post-debate interview with ABC News and George Stephanopoulos “only reinforced” that Biden should not be the Democratic nominee.
“This is about age. Nothing more,” Clooney wrote. “But also nothing that can be reversed. 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.”
“Joe Biden is a hero; he saved democracy in 2020. We need him to do it again in 2024,” Clooney concluded.
Clooney is one of many Hollywood names who have now spoken out against Biden remaining the Democratic nominee, including Rob Reiner, Stephen King and Michael Moore. The latter said on a recent episode ofhis “Rumble” podcastthatBiden‘s disastrous debate was “the cruelest form of elder abuse I’ve ever been forced to watch.”
“This is not about whether he’s fit to serve another four years,” Moore added about Biden. “After what we saw on debate night, this is about whether he should serve another four days in the toughest job in the world. That’s the question we should be asking. Leave Mr. Biden alone! Let him rest. Let him go home. He has done his job. Let him have his dignity. Please. Do him this favor.”
Duringhis interview with ABC Newsfollowing the debate, Biden pushed back against his critics and stressed he currently has no intention of dropping out of the presidential race.
Head over to The New York Times’ website to read Clooney’s op-ed in its entirety.
