NEW YORK
\nActor George Clooney, one of the Democratic Party\u2019s leading fundraisers, on Wednesday made an emotional and heartfelt plea for President Joe Biden to end his faltering reelection campaign.
\nClooney \u2014 a member of the Hollywood elite that provides key support to the Democrats \u2014 joined a growing list of public figures calling for Biden, 81, to step aside after his terrible debate performance against Donald Trump last month.
\n\u201cI love Joe Biden,\u201d Clooney wrote in the New York Times. \u201cI consider him a friend, and I believe in him… But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time.\u201d
\nA self-described \u201clifelong Democrat,\u201d Clooney co-hosted a star-studded fundraiser with Biden in Los Angeles only last month featuring former president Barack Obama.
\nThe Biden campaign said that the event brought in a record $28 million.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe \u2018big F-ing deal\u2019 Biden of 2010,\u201d Clooney wrote, referencing a famous hot-mic clip from Biden\u2019s vice presidency.
\n\u201cHe wasn\u2019t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate,\u201d Clooney said \u2014 a direct challenge to Biden\u2019s claim that his poor debate showing was a one-off.
\n\u201cThe dam has broken\u201d on Democratic lawmakers publicly calling for Biden to withdraw, Clooney said, asking for more to come forward.
\n\u201cTop Democrats \u2014 Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, Nancy Pelosi \u2014 and senators, representatives and other candidates who face losing in November need to ask this president to voluntarily step aside.\u201d
\nThe Oscar-winner brushed aside worries that Biden\u2019s exit would create chaos four months before an election in which the Democrats hope to keep Trump from power, and did not endorse a replacement candidate.
\nThe party should hear from contenders such as Vice President Kamala Harris, Maryland Governor Wes Moore and others, \u201cthen we could go into the Democratic convention next month and figure it out,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK Actor George Clooney, one of the Democratic Party\u2019s leading fundraisers, on Wednesday made an emotional and heartfelt plea for President Joe Biden to end his faltering reelection campaign. Clooney \u2014 a member of the Hollywood elite that provides key support to the Democrats \u2014 joined a growing list of public figures calling for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417687,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-417668","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n