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George Clooney urges Biden to drop out of the 2024 race: “The dam has broken”
Actor and prominent Democrat fundraiser George Clooney is calling for President Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, even as Mr. Biden says he’s “firmly committed” to running.
In a New York Times op-ed published Wednesday, Clooney urged the Democratic Party to choose a new nominee, pointing to Mr. Biden’s disastrous debate performance last month.
“We are not going to win in November with this president,” Clooney wrote. “On top of that, we won’t win the House, and we’re going to lose the Senate. This isn’t only my opinion; this is the opinion of every senator and Congress member and governor who I’ve spoken with in private.”
Clooney’s op-ed came less than a month after he co-hosted a star-studded fundraiser for Biden that included former President Barack Obama, talk show host Jimmy Kimmel and actress Julia Roberts. The Biden-Harris campaign said it raised $30 million, a record sum for a single Democratic fundraiser.
However, Clooney’s support for the president now appears to be waning.
“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 wrote. “He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”
Andrew Harnik/Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
The two-time Oscar winner conceded Mr. Biden may have been tired or sick during the debate against former President Donald Trump, but he warned Democrats about their election chances if they move forward with Biden as the party’s nominee.
Urging Democratic lawmakers not to “wait and see if the dam breaks,” Clooney said that “the dam has broken. We can put our heads in the sand and pray for a miracle in November, or we can speak the truth.”
The silver lining of a fresh nominee is that it would enliven the Democratic party and “wake up voters,” Clooney wrote, pointing to the recent legislative elections in France in which the far-right was blocked from a big win.
Clooney said the Democratic Party has an “exciting bench” and suggested picking someone at the Democratic National Convention in August. He pointed to potential candidates such as Vice President Kamala Harris, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker.
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Yellowstone hiker burned when she falls into scalding water near Old Faithful, park officials say
Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. — A New Hampshire woman suffered severe burns on her leg after hiking off-trail in Yellowstone National Park and falling into scalding water in a thermal area near the Old Faithful geyser, park officials said.
The 60-year-old woman from Windsor, New Hampshire, along with her husband and their leashed dog were walking off a designated trail near the Mallard Lake Trailhead on Monday afternoon when she broke through a thin crust over the water and suffered second- and third-degree burns to her lower leg, park officials said. Her husband and the dog weren’t injured.
The woman was flown to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho for treatment.
National Park Service / Jacob W. Frank
Park visitors are reminded to stay on boardwalks and trails in hydrothermal areas and exercise extreme caution. The ground in those areas is fragile and thin and there’s scalding water just below the surface, park officials said.
Pets are allowed in limited, developed areas of Yellowstone park but are prohibited on boardwalks, hiking trails, in the backcountry and in thermal areas.
The incident is under investigation. The woman’s name wasn’t made public.
This is the first known thermal injury in Yellowstone in 2024, park officials said in a statement. The park had recorded 3.5 million visitors through August this year.
Hot springs have injured and killed more people in Yellowstone National Park than any other natural feature, the National Park Service said. At least 22 people have died from hot spring-related injuries in and around the 3,471-square-mile national park since 1890, park officials have said.