Popular US actor George Clooney on Wednesday asked US President Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race as the “fight against time” is not winnable for him, US media reported.
Biden must decide quickly whether he will remain in the race for the White House in 2024, former House Speaker Pelosi, a longtime Biden ally, said on MSNBC, declining to say explicitly that she wants him to run.
Hollywood star Clooney, a Democrat who co-hosted a star-studded fundraiser for Biden last month, withdrew his endorsement after publishing a critical New York Times piece saying Biden is no longer the same man he was in 2020.
George Clooney said about Joe Biden:
“In the last four years, he’s won many of the battles he’s faced. But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, according to Axios, has privately made it clear that he is not opposed to the Democratic nominee other than Biden. However, Schumer reiterated his support for Biden in a statement following the Axios report.
Senator Peter Welch called for Biden to withdraw in an op-ed late Wednesday, becoming the first Democratic senator to explicitly call for the president to resign.
A major donor said Democratic leaders had signalled they would make their concerns known after the NATO summit, but did not mention Schumer by name.
“It’s going to be a bloodbath,” the source said, citing growing anger among lawmakers and donors, as well as mounting pressure on legislative candidates.
The Abandon Biden Campaign, which opposes Biden’s candidacy due to his handling of the Israel-Gaza war, on Wednesday urged all Americans to call on Biden to resign, saying it has no illusions about Trump and his “culture of hate.”
Pelosi’s remarks, which ignored Biden’s repeated insistence that he remain in the race, appeared to herald a new wave of calls from fellow Democrats to get out of the race.
Consequences of failed debates
For nearly two weeks, Biden, 81, has been trying to stave off defections from Democratic lawmakers, donors and other allies who fear he could lose the November 5 vote to Republican Donald Trump, 78, after his disastrous debate performance on June 27.
The president said he had a bad night at the debate, insisting he would stay in the race and defeat Trump.
In Dallas, Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running to replace Biden if he drops out as the Democratic nominee, spoke to a group of 19,000 people at an Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority event. Harris said this election is the most “existential” and important election of their lives, addressing a crowd that chanted “Four more years!”
The ninth Democrat against Biden
On Wednesday, US Rep. Earl Blumenauer became the ninth Democratic member of the House of Representatives to call on the president to end his campaign.
Few of the 213 Democratic members of the House of Representatives are publicly defecting, and the party’s leadership continues to publicly support Biden. Not a single Democrat in the Senate had switched to the Democratic side before Welch’s release on Wednesday, although Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado said on Tuesday that he did not believe Biden could beat Trump.
In an effort to make a difference, Biden has surrounded himself with communities of his most ardent supporters, including black Democratic lawmakers and voters. His campaign sees Biden’s support as a return of the loyalty he has shown them during his half-century of public life.
Biden was greeted with thunderous applause when he met Wednesday with a group of union leaders, an important part of his political base, at an AFL-CIO executive board meeting in Washington to discuss “their shared commitment to defeating Donald Trump,” Biden’s campaign said.
Biden cited high rents, expensive food and housing shortages as issues that need to be addressed going forward. Worker votes helped him defeat Trump in competitive states including Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania in 2020.
