The most powerful chemical that fuels a presidential campaign is money — lots of money. Hollywood has traditionally been a staunch financial backer of Democratic candidates, but many of its wealthy elites are rejecting Joe Biden as he seeks a return to the presidency in 2024.
Actor George Clooney is just one of a number of wealthy donors urging the US president to drop out of the presidential race, Breitbart News reports.
“I love Joe Biden, but we need a new candidate,” Clooney wrote in the column. The New York Times It came after Biden’s disastrous performance in a televised debate with Republican rival Donald Trump on Wednesday.
He and Julia Roberts helped raise record funds for the president’s reelection campaign but then withdrew their support after the octogenarian president showed visible signs of cognitive decline.
—Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) July 10, 2024
The gala allowed the president to go home with more than $30 million in one night, a record amount that shows the power of the industry funding the American left.
“If all the big donors pull out, he’s sunk,” said Steve Ross, a history professor at the University of Southern California who has written a book about Hollywood’s influence on American politics. Said AFP News.
“Hollywood remains the only stop for candidates.”
Democratic pollster and strategist Brad Bannon agreed. Said The impact of Clooney’s actions on the Biden campaign was “like the Titanic hitting an iceberg.”
If left-leaning Hollywood A-listers were to withdraw their endorsements, it would not only generate headlines but also deal a major blow to campaign finances.
Whiplash! pic.twitter.com/3w2dC60Lg3
—Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) July 10, 2024
“Clooney not only has star power, he has economic power,” Bannon told The Hill.
“Part of the reason Clooney’s op-ed was so striking is because he represents star power and money, which are a powerful combination in politics,” the Bannon Communications Research CEO added.
Recently, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings has called on Biden to resign, and Walt Disney’s granddaughter Abigail and Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel (whose brother Rahm served as chief of staff to Barack Obama) have also said they will not fund Biden due to concerns about his age.
All claim they have seen how Biden behaves in public and despair about his prospects come November.
VIDEO: Biden blames his poor performance on late bedtimes and staff adding extra events
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AFP reports that both Bill and Hillary Clinton relied on Hollywood backing in their respective runs for the White House.
Obama famously benefited from the “Oprah Winfrey effect” in 2007, when the popular TV host organized a dinner to promote him, when he was still just an aspiring junior senator, and his profile skyrocketed.
During the 2020 presidential election, the entertainment industry donated $104 million to Democrats and $13 million to Republicans, according to Open Secrets, a nonprofit that tracks campaign finances.
So have Hollywood hearts and wallets abandoned Biden for good, or does he still have time to resurrect his flagging campaign?
Clooney’s The New York Times The op-ed “is certainly another pressure point,” Steven Maviglio, a Democratic adviser who worked with former California Governor Gray Davis, told AFP.
But Maviglio hopes the panic among some donors will subside and that this will be a “temporary phenomenon.”
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“If the president decides to stay in office and it becomes clear that it’s going to be a race between Biden and Trump, Hollywood will likely back Joe Biden, which is what they intended to do,” Maviglio said.
He added that defections from the industry are not yet so great as to end Biden’s campaign.
Attention is now turning to Jeffrey Katzenberg, the billionaire former Disney executive and co-founder of DreamWorks, who organized a fundraising gala for Biden in June.
Katzenberg has been heavily criticized since Biden’s disastrous debate defeat, but he himself has remained silent while other Hollywood veterans have publicly announced their changes of heart.
A spectacular move from Hollywood! https://t.co/gSPPf66tTo
—Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) July 11, 2024
“He is the engine of the car, so if he stops it’s a big deal,” Maviglio said.
Despite growing pressure from the media, donors and even leaders of his own party, Biden has shown no signs of stepping down.
