Trump rips Clooney over op-ed urging Biden to drop reelection bid
Former President Trump went after George Clooney Wednesday evening after the actor wrote an op-ed pushing for President Biden to leave the White House race.
“So now fake movie actor George Clooney, who never came close to making a great movie, is getting into the act,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “He’s turned on Crooked Joe like the rats they both are. What does Clooney know about anything?”
"Clooney should get out of politics and go back to television," the former president added later in the post. "Movies never really worked for him!!!"
His remarks come after the Hollywood star wrote in a New York Times op-ed, published Wednesday, that the president’s party is “not going to win in November with this president.”
Clooney, a long-time Democrat and top fundraiser for the president, called Biden a "friend," but said the incumbent had changed.
"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," he wrote. "In the last four years, he’s won many of the battles he’s faced."
"But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can," Clooney continued. "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."
He later added that while Biden stepping aside at this point in the election would be "messy," it would be worth it.
"Joe Biden is a hero; he saved democracy in 2020," Clooney wrote. "We need him to do it again in 2024."
Trump pushed back on the actor's characterization of Biden, leaning into his common rhetoric.
“He uses the Democrat ‘talking point’ that Biden, the WORST President in the history of the United States, has ‘saved our Democracy,’” the presumptive GOP nominee posted. “No, Crooked Joe was the one who WEAPONIZED Law Enforcement against his political Opponent, who created the most devastating INFLATION in the history of our Country, who Embarrassed our Nation in Afghanistan, and whose crazy Open Border Policy has allowed millions of people to illegally pour into our Country, many from prisons and mental institutions.”
“Crooked Joe Biden didn’t save our Democracy, he brought our Democracy to its knees," he added.
Clooney is just one of a growing list of Democrats who have publicly called on the president to drop out of the race in the wake of a rocky presidential debate performance last month against Trump. On the stage, Biden stumbled over his words, had a raspy voice and lacked energy, raising concerns about his age, mental fitness and ability to not only defeat Trump in November but also serve another four years.
The White House and Biden allies have been insistent that the incumbent is not leaving the race.
While Trump has mocked Biden's showing during the debate, he has also encouraged him to stay the course.
Following the "Ticket to Paradise” star's lead, actor Michael Douglas said he too was "deeply concerned" about Biden's campaign. During an appearance Wednesday on ABC's "The View," Douglas called the president a "wonderful guy," but said Clooney's push for him to step aside was "valid."
A representative for Clooney did not immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment.