George Clooney, who authored an op-ed calling on then-President Joe Biden to exit the 2024 race, is weighing in on President Donald Trump’s election victory.
The “Ocean’s Eleven” star, 63, reacted to the election results on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” Tuesday after his preferred candidate, former Vice President Kamala Harris, lost to Trump. He said he has the same attitude about Harris’ defeat that he encourages his 7-year-old son to have after he loses chess matches.
“He gets upset, and I (tell him), listen, you shake the guy’s hand, you say, ‘Good game, I’ll get you next time,'” Clooney said. “You’ve got to live by those rules, which is, ‘Alright, good. Good for you. Go. I hope you do well, because our country needs it, and then we’ll meet you in three-and-a-half years and see where we go next.'”
George Clooney attends a screening of “The Boys In The Boat” on Dec. 13, 2023, in New York City.
Clooney noted that as a longtime Democrat, he has “lost a lot of elections,” but “this is democracy, and this is how it works.” Referencing the events of Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overturn his loss in the 2020 election, the actor quipped, “What am I supposed to do, storm the (expletive) Capitol?”
George Clooney calls Joe Biden ‘selfless’ for dropping out of 2024 presidential race
“It didn’t work out,” Clooney added. “That’s what happens. It’s part of democracy. There’s people who agree, and people who disagree, and most of us still like each other, and we’re all going to get through it.”
Host Stephen Colbert pushed back slightly on Clooney’s attitude about Trump’s win, arguing, “You play by the rules, but both sides have to believe that there should be rules.” The “Gravity” star conceded that there is “some truth” to this notion.
Clooney, a Democratic donor, made waves in July with an op-ed in The New York Times arguing that Democrats were “not going to win in November with” Biden as the presidential nominee, and he called for the then-president to drop out of the race.
The article followed Biden’s disastrous performance in the first presidential debate, which sparked concerns about his mental acuity and ability to defeat Trump.
George Clooney attends the premiere of “The Boys In The Boat” on Dec. 3, 2023 in London.
In his op-ed, Clooney said Biden’s debate performance was not a one-off and that he witnessed the president’s cognitive decline at a fundraiser the month prior.
The View’ co-host Joy Behar questions George Clooney for op-ed criticizing Joe Biden
“We’re all so terrified by the prospect of a second Trump term that we’ve opted to ignore every warning sign,” Clooney wrote.
Trump reacted to the op-ed on Truth Social by calling Clooney a “fake movie actor” who “should get out of politics and go back to television.”
Biden dropped out of the race later in July, less than four months before Election Day, and endorsed Harris. Clooney has praised Biden for the decision, calling it the “most selfless thing that anybody’s done since George Washington.” He also endorsed Harris.
After Harris went on to lose the election to Trump, Biden argued in a January interview with USA TODAY that he could have won if he stayed on the ticket.
“It’s presumptuous to say that, but I think yes,” Biden said, although when asked if he had the vigor to serve a second term, he told USA TODAY, “I don’t know.”
In a September appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” Jimmy Kimmel argued Clooney’s New York Times op-ed “changed the world” and had “an enormous impact” on the election. But the Oscar-winning cast doubt on this, telling Kimmel, “I don’t know that that’s true.”
Contributing: Susan Page, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: George Clooney on politics, reaction after Trump election win
