Actor and vocal Democrat George Clooney says the President Joe Biden America saw at the debate is the ‘same man’ he saw at a fundraiser in Los Angeles last month.
While Democrats scramble to claim Biden, 81, just had a ‘bad night,’ insiders reveal that Biden is not the same man who was running for president in 2020.
Clooney co-hosted swanky fundraiser with Biden in Los Angeles on June 16 – just 11 days before the train wreck debate performance with Donald Trump – where the president had to be guided off stage by former President Barack Obama.
‘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,’ the lifelong Democrat wrote in a New York Times op/ed. ‘He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020.’
‘He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate,’ Clooney admitted.
The op/ed was a commanding call from Clooney for Biden to step-down as the party’s candidate in November and allow someone else to lead the ticket.
The Hollywood megastar, who has hosted many fundraisers, said the Biden can’t win the ‘battle against time’ in a scathing op-ed for the New York Times on Wednesday morning.
The actor also condemned Democratic party leaders for ignoring ‘every warning sign’ of Biden’s declining physical and mental health and for trying to defend his car-crash performance against Donald Trump .
He added that Democrat voters ‘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.’
Clooney’s LA fundraiser last month – hosted along with Obama and actress Julia Roberts – helped raise $28 million for Biden’s reelection campaign.
The event, however, was overshadowed with questions about the president’s health after a video appeared to show Obama needing to grab Biden’s arm and guide him off stage.
In the video, Biden and Obama are seen waving and smiling while receiving a standing ovation in the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles. Biden applauds and gives the audience a thumbs up but then he stops moving as he stares out over the crowd for several long seconds.
Obama, still smiling and waving at this point, took Biden by the wrist and gave him a gentle tug. That’s when the president appears to snap out of it.
They proceed to walk off the stage together with Obama speaking into Biden’s ear as he pats him on the back as they go.
The White House called the video a fake. Officials also noted the fundraiser took place the day after Biden returned from participating in the G7 summit in Italy.
Clooney joins the scores of Democrats and Biden allies who have called for the president to step down in the two weeks since his meandering and mumbling showing on CNN. The actor hosted some of the biggest fundraisers in the party’s history, including one last month for Biden’s reelection.
Biden has insisted he is not going anywhere and that he will still beat Trump in November, but Clooney’s comments are an enormous blow to his embattled campaign.
‘Joe Biden is a hero; he saved democracy in 2020. We need him to do it again in 2024,’ the actor wrote in the op-ed.
Clooney, who hosted a star-studded fundraiser for Biden in Los Angeles on June 16, said the person he saw there was the candidate the world saw at last week’s presidential debate.
‘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.
Biden and Clooney have a long relationship, going back to Biden’s day as chairman of the Senate Foreign Services Committee. Clooney was working on issues in Darfur and connected with him.
The president has honored Clooney for his support, hosting him at the White House for the Kennedy Center Honors in December 2022.
The actor has become a major force in the Democratic Party, raising millions for its candidates. He’s seen as an influential voice in American politics.
His dis-endorsement of Biden could also hurt the Democratic Party in the pocket book.
Hollywood donors, with their deep pockets, were said to be furious with campaign co-chair Jeffrey Katzenberg after Biden’s debate performance.
The donors, like many Biden supporters, said they felt misled and betrayed about the president’s health.
Clooney argued it was more important to beat Donald Trump in November than to keep Biden on the ticket.
‘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 wrote.
Already some prominent Democrats are saying Clooney has a point.
‘I am concerned.’ Michael Douglas, a longtime Biden supporter, told ABC’s The View. ‘I think it’s a valid point,’ he said of Clooney’s op-ed.
Biden has been struggling to rally Democrats around his presidential bid as calls for him to exit the presidential race grow.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi is among those appearing to question Biden’s decision to remain in the contest.
‘It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We’re all encouraging him to make that decision. Because time is running short,’ she said on Morning Joe on Wednesday.
Some Democratic lawmakers have expressed their doubts about Biden’s ability to beat Trump.
Clooney said he’s heard this concern from members of Congress he has spoken to, including worries the Democratic Party will lose the House and Senate.
‘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,’ he wrote.
He argues a nominee should be picked at the Democratic National Convention, which will be held in Chicago August 19th through August 22nd.
And the actor suggested an array of candidates who could replace Biden and go on to win in November.
‘Let’s hear from Wes Moore and Kamala Harris and Gretchen Whitmer and Gavin Newsom and Andy Beshear and J.B. Pritzker and others,’ he said, name checking several governors and the vice president.
‘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,’ he adds.
Biden has insisted he will stay in the race.
He sent a letter to all Democratic lawmakers on Monday, announcing his decision. He’s also reached out to party officials, donors and mayors as he tries to shore up his support with the party faithful.
‘I want you to know that despite all the speculation in the press and elsewhere, I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump,’ Biden wrote to Democrats.