George Clooney, a self-described "lifelong Democrat," has publicly called on Joe Biden to step aside ahead of a presidential election that no one seems particularly enthused about.
In a New York Times op-ed published Wednesday, the Oscar-winning actor and long-time Democratic donor simultaneously expressed his admiration for Biden’s impact on the American political system thus far while expressing his concerns about a path to victory come November. Mentioned early into the piece is a recent fundraiser co-hosted by Clooney, where the Tender Bar director observed a change in the current POTUS from which he argues there is no recovery.
"I love Joe Biden," Clooney, whose history of top-tier political support also includes fundraising for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, wrote. "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 continued, writing: "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."
Elsewhere, Clooney urged Democrats to "stop telling us that 51 million people didn’t see what we just saw," again referencing Biden’s subpar debate performance against Donald Trump, and pointed out that every political leader he’s discussed this issue with are in agreement with one key takeaway from recent developments.
"We are not going to win in November with this president," Clooney said.
Despite growing concerns, Biden, at least as of this writing, has remained adamant that he has no intention of stepping aside for a new nominee. To be clear, this line of messaging is exactly what we would be hearing right now regardless of what he’s actually planning to do, because that’s just how this shit works.
Biden kicked off the week by sharing a letter he says he sent to Capitol Hill Democrats. In it, Biden said he was "firmly committed to staying in this race," regardless of speculation suggesting he’s not up to the task.
"The question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now," Biden said. "And it’s time for it to end. We have one job. And that is to beat Donald Trump. We have 42 days to the Democratic Convention and 119 days to the general election. Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us. It is time to come together, move forward as a unified party, and defeat Donald Trump."
It’s a pivotal time not only for Democrats and the larger effort to prevent another Trump shitshow in the White House, but arguably for the American political infrastructure at large. Namely, there is an underlying condescension and arrogance to the current Biden predicament that is not going unnoticed by younger would-be voters.
If anything, many have felt pushed to the brink of forced indifference post-COVID. If the average person is working tirelessly simply to make ends meet, and often coming up short, what time do they have to dedicate to nuanced political discussions? What, exactly, can they point to in recent years as a sign that those begging for their votes actually gives a fuck about them?
Our hopelessness is being shoddily repurposed and sold back to us with the (again arrogant) assumption that we’ll buy it, no questions asked. But the longer that fallacy is propped up, and the longer Biden waits to peep the writing on the wall, the more it looks like he and Democrats at large don’t care about the very people they’ll blame when the ship sinks.
