George Clooney said that Joe Biden is “saving democracy” by stepping aside from the presidential election in a statement released on Tuesday. The actor also endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in her bid to seek the Democratic nomination to run against Donald Trump in November.
“President Biden has shown what true leadership is. He’s saving democracy once again. We’re all so excited to do whatever we can to support Vice President Harris in her historic quest,” the actor said in a statement to CNN.
Clooney, of course, publicly called for the president to step down in a scathing op-ed published in the New York Times just weeks after cohosting a splashy fundraiser for Biden’s reelection.
“We are not going to win in November with this president,” the actor said at the time. “On top of that, we won’t win the House, and we’re going to lose the Senate.”
As Biden faced growing concern over his age as witnessed in his debate performance and subsequent TV interviews, Clooney acknowledge “the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser 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.”
The actor continued, “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.”
Biden made the shocking decision to step out of the race on Sunday, quickly endorsing his vice president to run in his stead. A flood of endorsements for Harris from Democratic politicians followed and the Hollywood Dems who had been squabbling over whether Biden should or shouldn’t drop out of the race quickly coalesced around the VP.
Harris announced on Monday that Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s campaign chair, has accepted the vice president’s invitation to run her campaign. Harris said their campaign message and Dillon’s motto will remain the same: “One team, one fight.”
