George Clooney’s op-ed urging Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential election was considered a major turning point in the beleaguered former president’s campaign.
Now the veteran actor is explaining why he thought Donald Trump won instead of Biden’s top-of-the-ballot replacement, Vice President Kamala Harris.
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His explanation reflects a common refrain among Democratic supporters since November: It wasn’t the policies that were unpopular, it was the messaging that was ineffective.
“The Biden administration was terrible at explaining that we’re a world economy, where we were actually doing better than all the other G7 countries,” Clooney told The New York Times in a profile published online late Thursday. “They were bad at telling the story because their messenger was not working at his best, to say the least.”
Gallup polling months before the election however, showed that issues like immigration, crime, homelessness and inflation were the top four concerns among voters, and Trump’s rival Kamala Harris had modest polling numbers before Biden dropped out. Also, the most effective ad spot during the campaign was said to be a Trump ad that weaponized the debate over trans rights.
Clooney also weighed in on CBS considering settling Trump’s lawsuit against 60 Minutes, noting such a move would have “a chilling effect on the press” and agreed with CNN anchor Jake Tapper’s comment that a settlement “would be the network of Edward R. Murrow at the behest of its owners saying ’We will not speak truth to power. We will acquiesce to power at the expense of truth.’”
Expanding a bit on his decision to write the Times op-ed calling for Biden to drop out, Clooney explained, “I saw him for hours a year earlier at the Kennedy Center, and I saw someone much less sharp.” With Clooney adding, “I’ve always liked Joe Biden, and I like him still.”
Clooney spoke to the publication ahead of his Broadway debut in March — a stage adaptation of his 2005 movie, Good Night, and Good Luck, with Clooney playing CBS newsman Murrow.
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