Joe Biden is losing a particularly influential sector of support: Hollywood.
On Wednesday (10), George Clooney became the latest — and perhaps most notable — industry insider to publicly express doubts about Biden’s candidacy, calling for the president to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
“I love Joe Biden. As a senator. As a vice president and as a president. I consider him a friend and I believe in him,” Clooney wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times.
“I believe in his character. I believe in his morals. Over the last four years, he has overcome many of the battles he has faced,” the actor added.
“But the one battle he can’t win is the battle against time. None of us can,” Clooney said.
“It’s devastating to say this, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser was not the Joe ‘Big F*ck’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate,” he said.
Clooney, a major Democratic donor and one of Biden’s most prominent supporters, concluded his op-ed by writing: “Joe Biden is a hero; he saved democracy in 2020. We need him to do it again in 2024.”
Clooney’s unqualified opinion added even more pressure on Biden to drop out of the race.
More importantly, Clooney’s candid assessment is representative of the growing pressure Biden is facing in the West, where his all-important, deep-pocketed Hollywood support is rapidly eroding.
The potential loss of Hollywood spells big trouble for the president, who has relied not only on the City of Angels for the strong surrogates it has offered him, but also for the film industry’s ability to raise millions of dollars to boost his campaign.
In fact, the Hollywood fundraiser that Clooney headlined last month, and mentioned in his article, raised a staggering $30 million — more than any other Democratic fundraiser in history.
Now that crucial support is in flux. Since Biden’s hard-to-watch performance in the CNN several influential voices in Hollywood have made public their concerns about his candidacy, with many calling for the president to drop out of the race.
Director Rob Reiner shared Clooney’s op-ed on Wednesday (10) in X, writing that “democracy is facing an existential threat” and that Biden “must step aside” to make way for “someone younger to fight” against Donald Trump.
Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings told The Times last week that Biden needs to “step aside.”
“Lost” creator Damon Lindelof wrote an op-ed for Deadline, saying Biden “has to go” and urging fellow Hollywood insiders to stop writing checks until a new candidate is named.
Disney heiress Abigail Disney also said she would withhold donations until Biden was replaced.
And Endeavor chief Ari Emanuel told a conference that he was “pissed at the Founding Fathers” for never setting an age limit for the presidency. “Donald Trump said, ‘I’m the only one.’ Right? ‘I alone can make all these problems go away.’ And now Biden is saying, ‘I’m the only one who can beat Trump.’ It seems like it’s pretty similar here, {but} we have a great caucus in the Democratic Party,” Emanuel said last week.
“We’re looking at a man who’s saying the other guy is a liar, and he’s telling us nonsense!” he added.
Turning the tide in Hollywood will be a tough challenge for Biden, who is simultaneously struggling to keep Democratic members of Congress and governors from expressing concerns about his ability to defeat Trump and serve another term.
Sources told the report that the Biden campaign has been actively making phone calls to Hollywood supporters, working to maintain their support during this turbulent time.
As for Clooney, a senior Biden campaign adviser told me, “The POTUS will not be sitting front row at ‘Oceans 14.’” But, the person added, Biden is “encouraged by the strong grassroots support we’re seeing and is determined to earn every vote and win this election.”
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
