Hollywood appears to be heading for the hills over President Biden’s re-election bid, and political experts say the loss of celebrity support could hurt his blockbuster-sized campaign.
George Clooney sent shockwaves from Washington to the West Coast on Wednesday when he released a New York Times essay announcing he was doing a U-turn on Biden. The “Descendants” actor, who last month helped Biden’s campaign raise $30 million at a star-studded fundraiser in Los Angeles, wrote that Democrats “are not going to win in November with this president.”
The Oscar winner, one of Hollywood’s biggest Democratic supporters, said the Biden he met at the glitzy event just a few weeks ago 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 in the debate.”
Biden’s disastrous debate against Trump last month in Atlanta set off a wave of criticism and renewed concern about the 81-year-old president’s age and acuity. On Thursday night, 16 House Democrats and one Democratic senator called on Biden to drop out of the race for the White House.
“It’s like the Titanic has hit the iceberg,” said Brad Bannon, a Democratic pollster and strategist, about the effect of Clooney’s action on Biden’s campaign.
Kathryn Cramer Brownell, a history professor at Purdue University and author of “Showbiz Politics: Hollywood in American Political Life,” told ITK that “historically, there have been celebrities who have mobilized against another candidate, they have mobilized perhaps on a particular issue, but I’ve never seen a celebrity ask a president to drop out of a race before.”
Other famous figures in the entertainment industry, including prominent Democrats, also urge Biden to withdraw.
“Harry Met Sally” director Rob Reiner wrote on social media just days before Clooney’s rehearsal: “It’s time to stop messing around. If the convicted felon wins, we will lose our democracy,” Reiner said, referring to the ex-president. Trump.
“Joe Biden effectively served the United States with honor, decency and dignity. It’s time for Joe Biden to resign,” he added.
Reiner, a fierce Trump critic,later expresssupport for Clooney’s New York Times op-ed, saying, “We need someone younger to fight back. Joe Biden should step aside.”
Michael Douglas, who organized a fundraiser for Biden earlier this year, said in an interview shortly after Clooney’s editorial was published that the “Ocean’s Eleven” star had “a valid point.”
“It’s so hard. I love the guy. Fifty years of public service – a wonderful guy. This happens to be one of those elections that is so crucial,” Douglas said on ABC’s “The View.”
“I am deeply concerned,” the “Wall Street” star added.
In addition to generating headlines, left-leaning Hollywood celebrities withdrawing their support can cause a hit to a campaign’s coffers.
“Not only does Clooney have star power, he also has financial power,” Bannon said.
“That’s one of the reasons Clooney’s article was seismic, because he represents star power and money — and in the world of politics, that’s a potent combination,” the Bannon Communications Research CEO added.
“Hollywood has fundraising power. This is something that has long been central to the relationship between Hollywood and Democrats – since the 1930s and especially in the 1960s – is that Hollywood has played a key role in delivering money and staged some of these fundraisers,” Brownell said.
Clooney, she said, is now “using this fundraising power to promote certain changes within the party itself.”
“Typically, Hollywood celebrities help raise money for the party and advocate for the party. They did not previously press for changes in who the candidate would be,” the author continued.
Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof explicitly pointed out the power of the purse in his own call for Biden to drop out last week, comparing the president to a pitcher in desperate need of relief from the bullpen and saying Democrats should withhold their donations until he leaves.
“But I’m ready to hear the strike song for our closure,” Lindelof wrote in an op-ed for Deadline. “And when I do that, I’m going to double the size of the checks… I’m going to write so many damn checks my hand is going to cramp.”
Biden’s campaign did not respond to ITK’s request for comment, but after Clooney’s essay, a campaign official pointed to the president’s previous comments, promising to continue his bid for re-election.
Biden has repeatedly said he is not going anywhere.
“I am the sitting president of the United States. I am the candidate of the Democratic Party. I will continue in the race”, hesaid on X.
He told George Stephanopoulos in an ABC interview last week: “If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I would get out of the race.”
But, Biden noted, “The Lord Almighty will not come down.”
Clooney’s editorial, Brownell said, may not change control at the polls, but it highlights the issue of age and Biden’s viability as a candidate. In his essay, Clooney wrote that “the only battle [Biden] cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can.”
“It’s not so much that celebrities influence voters and change voters’ minds, but I think one of the ways that you see celebrities have influence is by perpetuating certain stories and bringing attention to certain stories. conversation about whether or not Biden should be the Democratic nominee,” Brownell said.
And Bannon predicted that Clooney’s words will spell more trouble for Biden’s campaign — and could even prevent the commander-in-chief from getting a Hollywood ending in November.
“My guess is we’ll also see several other Hollywood stars and major donors come to the president’s rescue,” Bannon said.
“I think basically Clooney’s article was a signal to Hollywood and the donor community that he’s had enough.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
