On Wednesday, The New York Times op-ed section published a blunt essay from George Clooney, where the actor and director, one of Hollywood’s more engaged political players, forcefully argues for President Joe Biden to step aside in his campaign for reelection and allow a new candidate to take on Donald Trump in November.
Clooney, who has starred in and directed several politically minded films over his career, did not mince words in the essay, writing that the Biden he spent time with at a recent fundraiser that the Hollywood A-lister co-hosted three weeks ago is not the same man who won in 2020, but is the one 51 million Americans saw with their own eyes at his disastrous debate performance on June 27.
“Was he tired? Yes. A cold? Maybe,” Clooney wrote of the debate performance that has sent Democrats into a panic and that is now dividing the party. “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. 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 Oscar winner for the political thriller Syriana and nominee for Good Night and Good Luck, which follows the conflict between journalist Edward R. Murrow and U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy, floated the idea of several prominent Democrats stepping up to lead the ticket in November. Clooney suggests in the essay that the nominating process at the 2024 Democratic National Convention could “enliven our party and wake up voters.”
He concludes: “Joe Biden is a hero; he saved democracy in 2020. We need him to do it again in 2024.”
More to come.