Hollywood star George Clooney has called on Joe Biden to withdraw from the race for a second term in the White House, saying he is “not the Joe Biden of 2010.”
Clooney, a lifelong Democrat, wrote a guest essay in the New York Times three weeks after being in the company of President Biden at a fundraising event.
That night, questions were raised about the president’s health after his predecessor, Barack Obama, took his hand off the stage.
In his essay, Clooney said: “I love Joe Biden. As a senator. As vice president and as president. I consider him a friend and I believe in him.
“He believes in his character. He believes in his morals. In the last four years, he has won many of the battles he has faced.
“But the only battle we can’t win is the fight against time. None of us can.”
Biden’s re-election effort has been under intense scrutiny since a disastrous performance in a debate with Triumph last month.
In a withering critique, Clooney continues: “It’s devastating to say, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser was not the Joe Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden. Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed in the debate.
“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 are all so terrified by the prospect of a second Trump term that we have chosen to ignore all the warning signs. The interview with George Stephanopoulos only reinforced what we saw last week.
“As Democrats, we collectively hold our breath or turn down the volume every time we see the president, whom we respect, step off Air Force One or return to a microphone to answer an impromptu question.”
The president, 81, has so far resisted calls to resign, including from his own party, saying he is “firmly committed” to staying in the race and urging his Democratic colleagues to end the debate.
But Clooney wrote: “This is a matter of age. Nothing more. But also nothing that can be reversed.
“We are not going to win in November with this president.”
He added that after the debate “the dam has broken.”
“We can bury our heads in the sand and pray for a miracle in November, or we can tell the truth.”
He admitted that changing the candidate with so little time until the November election would be “confusing,” but argued that it would also “lift up our party and wake up voters who, long before the June debate, had already walked out.”
The article was titled: “I love Joe Biden. But we need a new candidate” and concluded by saying that Biden was a “hero” for beating Trump in the previous election.
“He saved democracy in 2020. We need him to do it again in 2024,” Clooney said.
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Previously, Biden’s re-election effort suffered a significant setback after one of his most prominent and longest-standing allies refused to endorse him.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stopped short of offering her support when asked if she supported his bid for a second term in the White House.
On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Pelosi was asked if she had his support to head the Democratic ticket.
She responded: “It’s up to the president to decide if he’s going to run. We all encourage him to make that decision because time is running out.”
Asked if she wanted him to run, Pelosi said, “I want him to do what he decides to do, and that’s it… that’s how it is. Whatever he decides, we’ll go with it.”
Regarding the public debate over Biden’s future, Mrs. Pelosi said: “I’ve told everyone to put aside whatever they’re thinking, or tell someone privately, but there’s no need to put that out there on the street.” “. table until we see how we go this week.
Nancy Pelosi
President Biden will host NATO’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington DC this week and is scheduled to hold a solo press conference on Thursday.
The events are considered critical tests of your mental fitness.
Several Democratic congressmen have gone public with their fears that Biden’s performance will cost him the election and hamper his Senate and House races.
Biden has stalled the momentum of the partisan revolt, although Democrats remain divided over its future.
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