Why George Clooney Is Facing Major Backlash From Fans About Presidential Election

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

George Clooney has been a celebrity leader in the Democratic Party for decades, but in the wake of Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss on Tuesday, Nov. 4, he might be rethinking his position. Some of his fans are criticizing him for his very vocal opinion to have President Joe Biden step aside and let someone else run for the White House this year.

In July, the 63-year-old actor wrote a controversial op-ed for The New York Times titled, “I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee.” Even though Clooney said he adored the man, he also claimed that the president’s cognitive health was in decline.

“In the last four years, he’s won many of the battles he’s faced,” Clooney wrote after Joe Biden’s lackluster debate performance on June 27. “But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can. 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.“

Clooney led the wave of other political figures to oust Joe Biden as the 2024 Democratic Party nominee which ushered in the movement for Vice President Kamala Harris to run. Now that the dust has settled and Donald Trump is the president-elect, the social media critics have chimed in.

-more-

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/why-george-clooney-facing-major-164525303.html

[BluenFLA]

1. Damn them, damn them all

They pushed Biden out and while we'll never know if he would have won a second term, considering how the election turned out maybe we should have taken our chances with him.

BTW nothing against Harris but I still feel he would have squeaked out a win and even if he lost it would have been closer.

[XanaDUer2]

3. Me too

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

57. Me three.

[Elessar Zappa]

4. I doubt he would have won.

His polls showed him down by double digits in a blue state, Nevada, and losing all the swing states handily (also double digits). It would have been very hard to turn that around.

[LisaL]

32. I don't think there were any poll numbers showing that Kamala would do any better.

So what was the point?

[RoeVWade]

97. Sigh...And If Biden lost, we'd asking if we should have gone the other way. No one knows.

nt#

[progressoid]

9. Nope.

He barely won in 2020 and his numbers this time around were much worse.

This problem is systemic.

[LisaL]

20. My feelings exactly.

I always believed that forcing Biden out so close to the election was stupid. It was not going to accomplish a desired outcome.

[Dorian Gray]

60. I feel pretty confident that Biden wouldn't have won the election

And I agree with the people that are frustrated that he didn't bow out earlier.

[Deminpenn]

62. I actually still think that's true

I saw a lot of grim, umsiling faces heading into my polling place when I stopped by to check my absentee ballot was on their list. My precinct is about 2/3rds R and turns out at 70-80%, so the voters I saw were most likely Rs.

If Biden had been able to stay in the race, I think Dems wouldn't have been thrilled, but they'd have trudged out and voted for him. He probably would've won PA and the macho men unions like firefighters and building trades would've supported him because they know what the infrastructure bills has done for them and their members. Too many Dems and others looked at Biden's physical frailty and equated it with mental frailyy. The other factor is that age had made Biden's congenital stuttering not as easily covered up as when he was younger. His speech couldn't keep up with his thoughts leading to garbled sentences. His campaign should've asked for an accomodation of that at the July debate and from the media in general. Not any different from the deference Fetterman gets for having to use a speech to text device to help him after his stroke left him with an audio deficit.

[happy feet]

78. I didn't want him pushed out

BUT he was ill equipped to beat the anti Dem media machine which relentlessly nit picked Biden and gave the red carpet treatment to Trump's lies, felonies, etc. His mind was no longer quick enough to counter Trump during the debates...he was still honorable believing American wouldn't re elect a convicted felon with no morals.

[Native]

80. if you can, watch the 1st segment of Nicole Wallace's show yesterday, Matthew Dowd made an excellent point

...cracking the code so to speak. it had to do with Biden's favorability numbers. As you know they were in the 30's. In past elections, incumbent presidents received the same percentage of votes as their favorability rating at the end of their term, and VP's are impacted by this as well. In light of that, Harris did incredibly better than the numbers predicted. Here's a link. That discussion with Dowd starts around the 4:20 mark, but Nicole's opening statement before that is also worth a listen. She's calling for people to stay engaged, as is Biden.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/nicolle-wallace-it-s-time-to-get-to-work/vi-AA1tHxxi

[tanyev]

89. I thought it was horrible how they pushed Joe out,

but I was encouraged by how quickly everything solidified for Harris. And then I got excited by all the enthusiasm for her.

In hindsight, it looks like Trump would have won either way (yecch), but it was damn satisfying to see him completely lose his s**t over Harris.

[AkFemDem]

85. We can make a pretty good guess based on his really low approval ratings.

[hlthe2b]

2. Well, as much as I've always loved Clooney, it is hard not to feel conflicted...

But, backbiting among our own is so damned self-defeating--especially now.

[LisaL]

21. It was stupid. It was too late to change course.

It was couple of weeks prior to the convention. What did they think it was going to accomplish?

[Doodley]

5. Look at Joe Biden's approval numbers, then look at how voters view Trump. Biden has been light years better than Trump.

But voters think Trump is better. The myth that Trump is a great businessman and therefore great for the economy has never been busted. If Democrats can't even solve the problem that results from Trump sucking up all the oxygen and denigrating and redefining Biden, as he did with Hilary Clinton, while taking credit for everything good, tell me how could Joe have won?

[onenote]

19. Biden's favorability ratings haven't hit 50 percent since 2021.

In 2024, leading up to his dropping out of the race, he was stuck at around 36-40 percent approval. He actually got a bit of a boost in his ratings when he dropped out, which should tell you something. His numbers among independents were even worse.

Yes misogyny played a role in Harris's defeat. But so did voters' association of her with the Biden administration and the Biden administration, simply put, wasn't all that popular. Hell, even among Democrats, Biden's favorability ratings in 2024 were in the 80s, not the 90s as one would expect. There was a huge jump in enthusiasm among Democrats when Biden dropped out and was replaced by Harris. But the reality is that the result was already pretty much baked in.

[Deep State Witch]

6. I was ready to send Clooney

One of those "FJB" flags that they sell at the MAGA rallies. Because that's what he did. F*cked Joe Biden.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

7. He was trying to save this country. Sorry - but he was right.

[LisaL]

24. Right?

Is that why we are about to have president Trump? I have to live here, while Clooney can go live in his European Villa.
I don't have an European villa to live in.

[AkFemDem]

87. Yes he was right, its pretty obvious

Biden's approval ratings were absolutely tanked. If he'd had a good shot- Kamala would have won. In retrospect, she should have distanced herself more from him.

[Skittles]

48. of course he was

Biden was never going to win either.

[SharonClark]

11. Age and public appearance fucked Joe Biden.

Not Clooney.

[LisaL]

23. Why didn't age and public appearance fuck Trump?

It's not like Trump is a spring chicken.

[Skittles]

49. because he is a repuke

repukes are treated like white men, Dems are treated like women and POC

[Dorian Gray]

61. Because NOTHING sticks to Trump

it's an uncomfortable reality.

Trump is all the horrible things. He's old, addle brained, stupid, narcissistic, angry, defiant, mean spirited. But over half the country preferred him to Harris, and MORE preferred him to Biden.

We need to grapple with that.

[True Dough]

56. I believe the inflation factor is missing from your list

It was a global problem, not just an American one, and the Fed tamed it better than almost any other nation. But the outcome was still much higher prices for consumers. When that puts the squeeze on many lower-income and sometimes low-information voters, and you have this orange salesman promising he'll improve life for you, unfortunately, too many people take the bait.

[CentralMass]

39. Nancy P. had a hand in it.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. President Biden had a 39% to 41% approval rating in exit polls.

It wasn't deserved but that's of no moment. Every incumbent presidential candidate or the candidate from the same party has always lost with that low an approval rating-Stevenson, Humphrey, Carter, GWHB, and McCain lost. Kamala Harris won 15% of the vote of voters who disapproved of Biden. That was phenomenal but not enough.

[LisaL]

27. What is Trump's rating?

[SharonClark]

10. "Major backlash" by social media idiots?

I’m sure George Clooney doesn’t care and I don’t either. Clooney did the right thing when Democratic leaders and those in the White House tried to gaslight Democrats who knew Joe was not up to campaigning.

These whiners need to move on because we’ve got bigger problems than their never ending and misplaced anger with George Clooney.

[LisaL]

22. Of course Clooney doesn't care.

He can go to his villa in France and live there while we suffer. Because we don't have a villa in France.

[kwolf68]

12. Biden runs in 2016

We are not having this conversation. I truly believe Biden wins in 2016, but it was Hillary's "turn". I realize Joe was PBO's Veep, but Biden is his own man and in his prime he was a lethal killer. Unbeatable. Hell, even a "diminished" Joe won in 2020. But he could never have seen this campaign to the end.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

14. He was also mourning the loss of his son Beau

He wasn't much in the mood for running.

He says the reason he ran in 2020 was because Trump was fucking things up so badly.

[In It to Win It]

52. I agree. Full stop. I thought Joe Biden would have ran in 2016.

I expected him to run in 2016. To me, he seemed like the obvious successor to Obama.

[MichMan]

88. The odds were against either Biden or Clinton in 2016

In the last 75 years, only once has the same political party won three presidential elections in a row. Historically after 8 years, people are ready for a change.

[standingtall]

13. The backlash against Clonoey is deserved regardless of Biden's approval rating

If your going to demand an incumbent President step down. Then you better win. We are 0 for 2 now when we forced a sitting President not to run for reelection. George Clooney doesn't even live in the U.S. but France so his money insulates him from the immediate consequence that he used his money to influence.

[CentralMass]

36. 👆

[Florida Dem]

15. I Agreed With Clooney

I find it extremely unlikely that Biden would have won this election after his disastrous debate performance. That was an absolute death blow from which there was no way to fully recover. It strongly reinforced an existing narrative that was plaguing his candidacy. As soon as Harris entered the race, she dramatically improved in the polls over Biden. I feel certain we ran the stronger candidate in this race. Nothing against Biden. I think he's been an outstanding President. Everybody's entitled to their opinion.

In my opinion the problem is not Biden or Harris. It is the clueless electorate that is extremely susceptible to propaganda and misinformation. A horrible sickness has infested the soul of this nation. I think we have to recognize that this was the overriding reason for the shellacking. Time will tell if we will ever be able to wrest back control from these maniacal fascists in the foreseeable future. Their susceptibility to absurd propaganda and misinformation is a science fiction level phenomenon. Worse yet, it is combined with a disturbing level of viciousness and bloodlust. Let's hold together and try not to look for ways to divide ourselves based on events that have already taken place. We had a great candidate who ran a flawless campaign and we left it all out on the field.

[LisaM]

55. So why didn't he pen a similar Op-Ed about Trump?

Of course it wouldn't have mattered to Trump supporters but it would have made Clooney seem less of a hypocrite. I also think he was (wrongly) somehow blaming Biden for the war in Gaza, which was at the best of Amal Clooney and, in my mind, completely unfair.

People also choose to ignore that the timing of the debate didn't favor Biden, who had just travelled to something like 13 countries and just finished negotiating the release of five hostages. That would have worn out anyone.

[pstokely]

16. Maybe he should have asked a year ago

And with the rest of the Hollywood donor base, asked privately

[newdeal2]

17. Bingo

His stupid public op-ed was damaging. I doubt it made any difference to Biden’s decision, only embarrassed him.

[In It to Win It]

28. Maybe all of us should have asked a year ago too

[soandso]

53. THIS

The billionaire donors and Pelosi should have called a meeting with him privately before publicly humiliating him, which they did. Pelosi also threatened to do more by releasing poor internal polling. Then she said she had no problem with Joe but just that she didn't like the way his campaign was being run. Then that should have been addressed and fixed in a private meeting. All of the, "Hey we love you and you're the greatest (now GTFO)" was rotten and ruthless, imo. She said he hasn't spoken to her since. Gee, ya think, Nancy? SMH.

[JI7]

18. I didn't like what he did but Biden would have lost by more

I think a white Male that worked as hard as Kamala did and came off as good as she did could have won . Or a younger Joe Biden would have been more pubic throughout his time in office and that would have helped him win also.

Obama is the only non white candidate that would have won .

Inflation did hurt but also sexism.

[LisaL]

25. Biden wouldn't have lost by more.

NT

[In It to Win It]

26. He would have lost by less

Still a loss

[LisaL]

29. Well I guess we will never know.

But the whole idea of forcing out a sitting president a couple of weeks before convention is stupid. And for no other reason is that he is old.
Meanwhile an old Trump is apparently just fine.

[In It to Win It]

31. Running an unpopular candidate, which he was (unfairly and undeservingly), was also stupid

Joe Biden was a great President, but for whatever reason, it just wasn't getting through to people.

[LisaL]

33. What was Trump's approval rating?

NT

[In It to Win It]

34. I imagine they were also bad because Trump never had good approval numbers but Trump was not our candidate.

Let them run their unpopular candidate.

We can only worry about our house.

The polling around people's feelings about the economy were never good, which was unfair to Joe Biden. However, they blamed him for it. It stuck to him. It stuck to the administration and they were never able to shake it. It's why they stopped all the messaging about how good the economy is doing.

[Jk23]

91. Did you see Biden on the Campaign trail in the last few weeks?

It would have been a lot more ugly.

[flvegan]

35. Honestly

The party should have maybe thought of something in advance before they sent a (very qualified and amazing) Joe Biden to take the presidency at 79. Add 4 years, add 8 years to that. They knew we'd have an 82 year old candidate at the time.

Just something to consider in the future. It's not Clooney's fault. I believe Biden's candidacy (rather than Harris') would have been even worse come election time. Not that we'll ever know.

[In It to Win It]

37. It was Joe Biden's decision. The party couldn't make Joe Biden step aside.

Perhaps they could have suggested it but Joe Biden believed he could win.

[LisaL]

38. Party demanding him to step aside forced him to do it.

How could he stay if members of his own party demanded he stepped down?

[In It to Win It]

43. Because it wasn't obvious that he should then. A Biden-Trump rematch seemed like anyone's guess

Two unpopular people going against each other, the winner seemed like a coin flip. You didn't know whether it be heads or tails. It could have been anyone's guess. Maybe Joe Biden could win, maybe not.

The economic polling wasn't good, everyone hating inflation, Joe's approval numbers also not good... but the general feeling was that if Joe Biden had an even shot against anyone, it would be Trump. Everyone was pretty certain Trump would be their nominee.

I'm sure you know the political norm like I do that you don't push aside your incumbent so everyone steered clear and left it up to him.

The Party didn't pressure him until it became super clear it seemed like Joe Biden would lose against the other unpopular guy. It didn't become obvious that he should step aside until it was too late.

[LisaL]

45. And what was pushing him out so late in a game going to accomplish?

The only thing that is happening to us now.

[In It to Win It]

47. The same that keeping him would have accomplished, a loss.

I don't regret the switch. I think Kamala Harris gave us a better fighting chance than we would have had with Joe Biden.

I would have loved a second Biden term if it was in the cards. I just didn't think it was in the cards for us. I would have supported him regardless if he had stayed in. I made another post saying that I voted for him 2020 thinking he would only do one term and voluntarily step aside. I still thought that up until the moment it became clear he was running for re-election.

He's passed some of the greatest one-in-a-generation policy. I wanted to see that legacy continue and shape the country. Unfortunately and unfair for Joe Biden, I wasn't that confident he would win. I couldn't feel that his industrial policy was getting through to people. People didn't seem to attribute the factory being built in their towns to Joe Biden even though it only happened because of legislation Joe Biden negotiated and signed. There didn't seem to be any effective communicators for that message. Pete Buttigieg couldn't be in all places at once telling people about this. People just didn't seem to connect the dots that that is the type of things Joe Biden and Democrats are working on.

I felt that legacy would maybe have to continue with another Democrat, unconnected to the administration, who could effectively communicate that message. They couldn't blame someone who is not in the White House for inflation. I'm even more certain of that opinion now after seeing the results.

[Dorian Gray]

63. Lisa, he obviously wasn't fit for this

HE should have made the decision not to run again back in January. That was his fault.

[LisaL]

66. Is Trump fit for this?

He could barely get into a garbage truck. Half of a time Trump just blabbers some gibberish.
So obviously one doesn't have to be fit for this.

[CentralMass]

41. Article: Pelosi demonstrated the art of her power by pushing Biden out

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4840068-pelosi-demonstrated-the-art-of-her-power-by-pushing-biden-out/

[LisaL]

44. The ultimate irony. Democrats were afraid that Biden would lose and take down the House with him,

so they forced him out a couple weeks prior to the convention. How did that work out?

[sunnybrook]

54. Well 2020 was an emergency

Joe knew he was the only candidate in 2020 that could beat Trump. Of course 2024 was also an emergency.

[TheKentuckian]

40. I truly don't see how any reasonable person saw a man up to a vigorous campaign.

The point of view comes off as telling me that the issue is my lying ass eyes and ears.

Biden was no longer a capable communicator other than with prepared statements and never was great to begin with plus he now signals as very frail.

Part of the reason his approval is so low is because he couldn't sell his accomplishments while being able to convey in a meaningful way that there was more to do.

He had no business seeking another term despite deserving one on the merits because his campaign was a dumpterfire and dug a deep hole.

[LisaL]

42. When people look at Trump, do they see a man up to a vigorous campaign?

Half of the time, Trump didn't even appear to know where he was.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

77. You keep repeating this

Yes, apparently half the country does see him as fit.
I don’t. But I didn’t vote for hiim.

[LisaL]

81. Because it pisses me off that all these rules only apply to one side.

Yes, Biden is old, but so is Trump. Trump is clearly not healthy, either physically or mentally.
Why was age only concern with Biden but not Trump?

[AZSkiffyGeek]

82. Ask Republicans

They nominated him.
I saw the footage from the Clooney fundraiser- Biden looked confused and disoriented until Obama led him offstage. He didn’t recognize a friend he mentored at the D-Day rally. And that debate was beyond horrible and seemed to confirm all the rumors that had started months before May and June’s public appearances.

[LisaL]

86. I don't need to ask Republicans.

I understand that Biden is no spring chicken. But couple of weeks before the convention was too late to make him drop out. It would have been a lot better to claim that Biden is totally fit, just as republicans do when it comes to Trump.

[TheKentuckian]

93. Hell no! Chump was unfit as a baseline and now he is falling apart from that unacceptable state

That doesn't fix Biden and actually made it look even worse.

Sundowning ass mad king buttery fucking Chump could present as more hale and forceful.

Biden is much more coherent BUT you too often have to bust out a transcript to demonstrate the fact and sometimes the transcript would also contain an uncomfortable amount of WTF as well but at least Joe was generally cognizant and knowledgeable.
Certainly not nutso going on about Hannibal Lecter and cancerous windmills.

However, that was easily washed away by whispy stuttering, rambling and just looking like he could blow away if someone opened a door too quickly or sneezed too hard.

Biden also seemed in no way physically up for the campaign and his day job at the same time.
I'm not sure he was even up for in 2020 as a private citizen and Covid made his run situationally possible.

Chump didn't have to manage the nation and much of the world on top of seeking office so he was going to be at an apparent vitality and footprint advantage.

It sucks. It isn't "fair" but it seems wild to me to deny the reality especially when the media environment is also considered.

[Hassler]

46. I'd like Clooney, Rob Reiner, Pelosi and whoever else

Through Biden under the bus to explain why we didn't win the WH and the Senate. Maybe not the House, but TBD

[standingtall]

64. Exactly that was part of the justification for forcing

because they had supposedly internal polling that showed Senators running ahead of him and that he might cost them the house and senate. Will Biden was forced out and if they capture the house their going to have nothing to show for it. You can't tell me if we didn't throw him under the bus, instead put a spin team around him that wouldn't have helped.

[LisaL]

69. My feelings exactly.

Bad debate-spin it as a best debate ever.

[exboyfil]

50. Why should anyone listen to an actor

When it comes to politics.

[voris820]

51. I have to wonder who the millions of Dems were that stayed home

that had voted for Biden in 2020. Was it because they were for Biden and angry when he was forced out? It'll be interesting to find out who they are.

[JohnSJ]

59. About 100 million eligible voters couldn't be bothered to vote. The country is getting exactly what it deserves, and it

can go f**k itself, because that is just what they have done.

[JohnSJ]

58. It wouldn't have mattered. After the disastrous debate President Biden's fate was sealed. The press would never had

let it go, and everyday would be hearing how he had cognitive issues.

Look at what the media did to Hillary 11 days before the election, based on the LIE that the email investigation was reopened.

Our illustrious corporate media has had a thing against Democrats ever since that jackass Bernard Goldberg wrote the book "Bias" accusing the media of having a "liberal" bias, the news organizations have gone out of their way to show they weren't liberal by playing bothsiderisms, even to the detriment of blurring the facts.

[LisaL]

65. There were so many things that Trump has done,

that were disastrous. Or should have been. Trump's own debate performance against Harris, for one.
If Biden had a bad debate, it should have been just span as a best debate ever. Isn't that how it works for Trump?

[JohnSJ]

67. that spin only works for republicans.

[LisaL]

68. Maybe we should learn how to make spin work for us.

NT

[JohnSJ]

71. I don't think it would work with the current media frenzy. They were so focused on Biden's "cognitive abilities", while

ignoring trumps lies and incoherence.

Those that did try to point out that Biden did address the issues, were quickly ignored or brushed aside.

The media was out for blood against him.

[LisaL]

72. I blame media for this debacle as well.

MSM ignored obvious signs of Trump's mental deterioration while harping on every little thing that Biden has said.

[JohnSJ]

73. I agree. They did the same thing against Hillary. I can't remember the exact numbers but the number of negative

stories on Hillary far surpassed any negative coverage on trump by a signifiant number.

Ironically both Hillary and Harris wiped the floor with trump in their debates, but it didn't matter.

The media, especially the damn social media bears a lot of responsibility for putting trump in power, and once he occupies the White House again, most of them will fall in line like the good little puppets they are.

[RandiFan1290]

70. He's getting his tax cuts

Exactly what he wanted.

[Mr. Sparkle]

74. I would blame the donors more than Clooney, it was them that forced Joe out.

I would like to see them named and shamed.

[SADAR]

75. George Clooney is a smug asshole

I'm glad he's getting backlash. May he end up like Mel Gibson.

[Lovie777]

76. It will pass.................

and the Democratic party will still remain strong.

[live love laugh]

79. Clooney is just another snake like Stephanopolous.

They should go to hell.

[BluenFLA]

83. If anything this election demonstrated our side also has a problem with donors

Last edited Fri Nov 8, 2024, 08:21 AM - Edit history (2)

Just like Musk, Thiel and the other billionaires control the Republicans (and forced Trump to pick Vance as VP), what happened with Biden exposed the powers behind the scenes who call the shots.

I remember how senators like Tester and Brown and that one in NM demanded Biden step down because their mega donors threatened to withhold support. Many of these people worked closely with Biden, didn't they see sooner than the public that he had issues? Why didn't they prod him to drop out sooner to allow time for a primary?

They reap what they sow, unfortunately we all have to pay the price.

[LisaL]

84. And neither Tester nor Brown benefited from Biden dropping out.

In fact I am pretty sure that both Tester and Brown would have been better off if Biden didn't drop out.

[ellemb]

90. It started with James Carville. After the debate he called dem donors and told them to withhold money for Biden.

[Jose Garcia]

92. The biggest reason Harris lost was because voters associated her with an unpopular incumbent President

It is unlikely that an unpopular incumbent President would have done any better.

[Ysabel]

94. Clooney is a dumbass now...

Poo on him...

[XanaDUer2]

95. Clooney is mega rich

He and his wife will be fine.

[PennRalphie]

96. The debate

Why Biden’s team agreed to that is mind boggling. They should have said no debate. The republicans would have bitched and moan, but so what? Biden could have controlled the media and the narrative.

Clooney’s villa on Lake Como, he bought it for 11 or 12 million dollars. Any of you have a house worth that? Why he was chosen to send that message was so wrong.

[Jack Valentino]

98. I don't CARE if some people think he was right. I STILL HATE HIM.

He's the one who started the stampede on our side.

And there are two Democratic senators who also publicly asked Biden to withdraw,
who won't be senators anymore, come January. Unfortunately.