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George Clooney is a big fundraiser for Biden and saw him up close
in 2010 and 2020 (competent), the Biden he saw 3 weeks ago is the same
Biden we saw in the debate.
Biden has deteriorated and is now lost.

from https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/-need-new-nominee-george-clooney-calls-biden-step-seeing-fundraiser-rcna161142

'We need a new nominee': George Clooney calls on Biden to step aside
after seeing him at fundraiser
The actor and Democratic donor issued his call as prominent Democrats
continue to step forward to question Biden’s ability to win re-election against former President Donald Trump.

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By Matt Korade and Elleiana Green
Actor George Clooney on Wednesday called for Democratic leaders to
coalesce behind a new presidential nominee amid mounting pressure from
within the party for President Joe Biden to withdraw from the race.

Clooney, a major Democratic fundraiser, issued his call in a guest essay
in The New York Times as prominent Democrats continue to step forward to question Biden's ability to win re-election against former President
Donald Trump following Biden's debate performance last month.

George Clooney in Cologne, Germany
George Clooney in Cologne, Germany, on Sept. 20. Rolf Vennenbernd /
picture alliance via Getty Images file
"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," Clooney wrote, referring to a star-studded event in Los Angeles that
Biden attended last month before the debate. "He wasn’t even the Joe
Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate."

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Biden rode the perception of electability to victory in 2020. But now it
may be his undoing.
Reached for comment, a campaign spokeswoman pointed to Biden's previous comments that he's staying in the race.

Amid Democratic hand-wringing in the days since the debate, Biden has
defied calls to drop out and dismissed polling that has found him
trailing Trump, although broadly within the polls' margins of error.

Democratic donors, meanwhile, have been divided over how to chart a path forward on a nominee amid the dissension. Referring to the debate,
Clooney, who called himself friend of Biden's, wrote that party leaders
"need to stop telling us that 51 million people didn’t see what we just
saw. We’re all so terrified by the prospect of a second Trump term that we’ve opted to ignore every warning sign."

"We are not going to win in November with this president," he added. "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 that I’ve spoken with in private. Every
single one, irrespective of what he or she is saying publicly."

Despite some defections, prominent Democrats in Congress have continued
to voice support for Biden — albeit waveringly — after closed-door
meetings following their return to the Capitol this week.

In his essay, Clooney also skewered Biden's argument in a letter to
members of Congress that his victory in the Democratic primaries shows
he has the support of voters.

"It is disingenuous, at best, to argue that Democrats have already
spoken with their vote and therefore the nomination is settled and done,
when we just received new and upsetting information," he wrote.

"Top Democrats — Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, Nancy Pelosi — and senators, representatives and other candidates who face losing in
November need to ask this president to voluntarily step aside," he said.

Matt Korade
Matt Korade is a politics editor for NBC News.

Elleiana Green
Elleiana Green is a Digital Politics intern with NBC News

Monica Alba contributed.

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