Hollywood heavyweight George Clooney has stirred the political pot by branding the Democratic Party’s swift endorsement of Kamala Harris as a blunder after Joe Biden’s exit from the presidential race.
According to USA Today, in a series of candid remarks, Clooney has criticized the party’s strategy, arguing that bypassing a competitive primary left Harris in a tough spot and the Democrats unprepared for their eventual loss to Donald Trump.
Let’s rewind to July 2024, when Clooney first dropped his bombshell opinion in a New York Times op-ed, urging Democrats to replace Biden as their nominee.
He didn’t mince words, pointing out what he saw as signs of Biden’s cognitive decline during a fundraiser he attended.
Clooney pushed hard for a primary, believing a battle-tested candidate would emerge stronger to face the Republican challenge. But when Biden stepped aside that same month, the party didn’t follow Clooney’s playbook and instead rallied behind Harris with lightning speed.
Within a day of Biden’s withdrawal and endorsement of Harris, she locked up enough delegate support to clinch the nomination, sidelining any chance for a real contest.
Clooney, speaking on “CBS Sunday Morning,” didn’t hold back his disappointment. “I think it was a mistake, quite honestly,” he said, lamenting the missed opportunity for a primary (Clooney, “CBS Sunday Morning”).
His point? Forcing Harris to run on her own record without a proper vetting process was like sending a boxer into the ring without a sparring session—doomed from the start.
Clooney elaborated that Harris faced an uphill battle, stuck defending policies she couldn’t easily distance herself from.
“I wanted there to be, as I wrote in the op-ed, a primary. ‘Let's battle test this quickly and get it up and going,’” Clooney argued, doubling down on his belief that a competitive process was the smarter path (Clooney, “CBS Sunday Morning”).
Instead, the party’s rush to unity might have cost them dearly, handing an easy opening to Trump, who ultimately claimed victory.
Not everyone took kindly to Clooney’s critique, with Hunter Biden, the president’s son, unleashing a fiery rant against the actor on “Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan.”
Yet Clooney stood his ground, defending his op-ed as a civic duty during an April CNN interview, even as he faced heat for challenging a man with decades of public service.
While reflecting on Trump’s win during an appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in February, Clooney took a sportsmanlike stance, suggesting it’s time to shake hands and wish the victor well for the country’s sake—a rare moment of grace in a polarized era.