Longtime Democrat George Clooney is urging President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
Just a month after co-hosting a fund-raiser for President Biden, Clooney penned a lengthy op-ed published in The New York Times on Wednesday morning explaining why he believes it is time for Biden to withdraw from the race.
“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. “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.”
Many Americans and some senior House Democrats have called for Biden to step aside because of the president’s poor performance during last month’s debate against former President Donald Trump.
Clooney, who has long been a fund-raiser for the party, is now joining the call.
“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. We’re all so terrified by the prospect of a second Trump term that we’ve opted to ignore every warning sign,” he continued. “The George Stephanopoulos interview only reinforced what we saw the week before. 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.”
The “Ocean’s 11” actor pointed out 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. On top of that, we won’t win the House, and we’re going to lose the Senate,” he said bluntly. “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 dam has broken,” Clooney expressed. “We can put our heads in the sand and pray for a miracle in November, or we can speak the truth.”
He said that it’s “disingenuous” to say that Democrats “have already spoken with their vote and therefore the nomination is settled and done, when we just received new and upsetting information.”
Clooney is asking that top Democrats like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-C.A.), as well as other Senators and representatives “and other candidates who face losing in November, need to ask this president to voluntarily step aside.”
He then slammed those “scary stories” that it’s simply too late to change course.
“In all likelihood, the money in the Biden-Harris coffers could go to help elect the presidential ticket and other Democrats. The new nominee wouldn’t be left off ballots in Ohio,” he reassured. “We Democrats have a very exciting bench. We don’t anoint leaders or fall sway to a cult of personality; we vote for a president. We can easily foresee a group of several strong Democrats stepping forward to stand and tell us why they’re best qualified to lead this country and take on some of the deeply concerning trends we’re seeing from the revenge tour that Donald Trump calls a presidential campaign.”
The “Gravity” star even offered more solutions. He thinks the party should hear from California Governor Gavin Newsom, Vice President Kamala Harris, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and more.
“Let’s agree that the candidates not attack one another but, in the short time we have, focus on what will make this country soar. Then we could go into the Democratic convention next month and figure it out.”
While the process won’t be pretty, Clooney reminded writers that “democracy is messy” and the move would “enliven” the party and “wake up voters who, long before the June debate, had already checked out.”
“The short ramp to Election Day would be a benefit for us, not a danger,” he said. “It would give us the chance to showcase the future without so much opposition research and negative campaigning that comes with these ridiculously long and expensive election seasons. This can be an exciting time for democracy, as we’ve just seen with the 200 or so French candidates who stepped aside and put their personal ambitions on hold to save their democracy from the far right.”
Clooney called Biden “a hero” as he “he saved democracy in 2020” and we need him to do the same this year.
With that being said, some key lawmakers are still standing behind Biden.
The actor’s note comes just two days after Biden sent a rare letter directly to both House and Senate Democrats. In it, he made clear that he is not dropping out of this race under scoring division brewing within the party.
