Last month, movie star and lifelong Democrat George Clooney co-hosted a fundraiser for Joe Biden in Los Angeles that raised over $30 million for the sitting president’s reelection campaign.
Three weeks later, Clooney called for Biden to step aside on Wednesday in an explosive op-ed in The New York Times that could prove a decisive moment for celebrities and high-profile Democrats who have thus far stayed silent about the president.
“We are not going to win in November with this president,” Clooney wrote.
Democratic advisors and commentators said the Clooney op-ed was significant, not just because the actor cuts a large profile, but because he made the statement in the Times, and that doing so provides cover for others who have been reluctant to say what they really think.