A month after hosting a star-studded fundraiser for President Joe Biden's campaign, George Clooney changed his stance, now claiming that Democrats are "not going to win in November with this president."
The Academy Award-winning actor made his remarks in an editorial published Wednesday in The New York Times after Biden's disastrous debate performance June 27.
"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.
"But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can."
Clooney helped raise $30 million for Biden's campaign last month at the high-profile Los Angeles fundraiser with former President Barack Obama and actor Julia Roberts. However, in his New York Times essay, Clooney admitted he noticed a change in Biden during that event.
"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," Clooney wrote.
Biden's poor performance in last month's debate against Trump renewed doubts about his age and chances as the Democrat nominee. Despite calls from some House Democrats for him to withdraw from the race, Biden has stood firm.
"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're all so terrified by the prospect of a second Trump term that we've opted to ignore every warning sign," Clooney, said.
"Is it fair to point these things out? It has to be. This is about age. Nothing more. But also nothing that can be reversed."
Referencing remarks by senators, congress members, and governors he spoke with privately, Clooney added, "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."
"We love to talk about how the Republican Party has ceded all power, and all of the traits that made it so formidable with Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, to a single person who seeks to hold on to the presidency, and yet most of our members of Congress are opting to wait and see if the dam breaks," Clooney continued.
"But the dam has broken," he said. "We can put our heads in the sand and pray for a miracle in November, or we can speak the truth."
Last week, Biden released a statement saying, "I'm the sitting President of the United States. I'm the nominee of the Democratic party. I'm staying in the race."
"It is disingenuous, at best, to argue that Democrats have already spoken with their vote and therefore the nomination is settled and done, when we just received new and upsetting information," Clooney remarked, calling on top Democrats who "need to ask this president to voluntarily step aside."
"Would it be messy? Yes. Democracy is messy. But would it enliven our party and wake up voters who, long before the June debate, had already checked out? It sure would," Clooney said, noting that Biden "is a hero; he saved democracy in 2020."
"We need him to do it again in 2024," he added.