Column: George Clooney drops a truth bomb about Biden. Now what?

Hello. I can’t say it’s a happy Thursday, but it is Thursday. There are 116 days until the election, and today we’re talking unexpected truth bombs and their consequences.

George Clooney is up first — but believe it or not, Donald Trump is next.

By now, you’ve probably read Clooney’s jaw-dropping op-ed in the New York Times calling for Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race.

Clooney spent time with Biden one-on-one recently when the actor cohosted a massive fundraiser in Los Angeles, and this is what he experienced:

“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 wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”

It has been 14 days since that debate, and Clooney is the only person with enough courage to clearly address what those of us without access to the president have all been fearfully trying to figure out — was that a bad night, or something far worse? I’ve been arguing that we should slow down until we know more.

Now we know more.

Though it’s doubtful this was a rogue move made without a push by some of the Democratic powers that be, it took a Hollywood actor stepping out of the role of celluloid hero and into the sad reality of our embattled democracy to give us clarity on whether our president is fit to serve.

Thank you, Mr. Clooney, for being willing to speak truth in a time of crisis.

President Biden appears to be protected by Democratic officials who, unlike Clooney, aren’t willing to discuss their recent interactions with him.

(Morry Gash / Associated Press)

Really, Democrats?

It turns out that in all of government, there was hardly a single woman or man willing to stand up and speak their own truth about Biden — despite the fact that dozens of state and national leaders, including our own Gov. Gavin Newsom, must have had the same knowledge as Clooney.

From a political perspective, I get why our political leaders remained largely silent — hinting, hemming, hawing and backtracking whenever they got too close to a Clooney-style reveal.

Democrats (or Republicans for that matter) don’t break ranks, and they don’t speak out when the consequences (banishment, loss of money, losing their race) are greater than the rewards — and so it was left to Clooney. But that’s the political perspective.

Not the moral perspective, the democracy perspective or even the common-decency perspective. So my first takeaway is that the apparent dishonesty and collusion of the Democratic Party is almost as disturbing as this confirmation of Biden’s decline, especially in this critical moment for our country.

I am still entirely open to Biden stepping forward to prove Clooney wrong. But right now, Clooney’s take illuminates the party in the exact ill light that Republicans have been casting it in for years — one that breaks voters’ trust in Democrats.

I believed that if the president were as far gone as Clooney now describes, someone in his inner circle would have spoken up. But I was wrong.

The party has damaged itself at a moment when it can’t afford the injury.

Trump tells the truth, for once

Which brings me to our second truth bomb — shockingly, from Trump — and a point on which I disagree with Clooney’s perspective.

Speaking at a rally in Florida this week, Trump said this about Biden picking Kamala Harris as his vice president (an aside here — he addressed part of these remarks to Marco Rubio, a potential Republican veep nominee in attendance. Kind of funny, Trump hinting he wants a second who poses no threat. Sorry, J.D. Vance).

“It was brilliant because it was an insurance policy — maybe the best insurance policy I’ve ever seen,” Trump said of the choice. “If Joe had picked someone even halfway competent they would have bounced him from office years ago, but they can’t because she’s got to be their second choice.”

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t think that’s why Biden chose Harris, and I don’t think she’s incompetent.

But the Democratic Party and America at large have long treated her that way. And they’re treating her that way now. Clooney, like many others, is suggesting some sort of open contest where any Democrat who wants to throw their hat in the ring gets a chance. Call it “Survivor: Oval Office.”

We all know the list of folks who’d love a shot at the presidency: Newsom (who said Wednesday he would not seek the nomination, but left me unconvinced), Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro, J.B. Pritzker and Pete Buttigieg, among others.

No one knows much about any of them, good or bad. Each might have a following in their state, but that’s about it. None are polling better than Harris, who actually comes out ahead of Biden in some measures.

In reality, rank-and-file Democrats would vote for a fish at the top of the ticket if Trump remains the alternative. The only thing that matters is what independent and undecided voters in swing states do. And I am not seeing how any of these potential candidates rally those voters — and frankly, I am still not sure those voters want Joe gone, even after this latest news.

And here’s the thing: We actually have a constitutionally mandated plan for what to do if a president is no longer able to serve, now or after November — it’s called the vice president. Democrats are simply trying to ignore it, the same way they ignored Biden’s decline, because it is inconvenient.

Two more truths to consider: The anti-Black backlash to Barack Obama’s presidency is alive and flourishing; and this country still isn’t convinced a woman can or should be president — just ask Hillary.

There are reasons Biden — a safe, white male — won the 2020 nomination. Let’s call them for what they are: racism and sexism.

No, I am not saying that if you don’t support Harris you subscribe to either of those -isms. I have my reservations about her, as many do, for reasons of policy, record and general awkwardness — and I’m a mixed-race South Asian woman. But there is the pervasive, if only whispered, assumption of another ugly truth: The Democrats do not want to risk a Black-South Asian woman at the top of the ticket.

Unless it’s Michelle Obama or Oprah. The Obama-Winfrey ticket would be fire.

But if you can’t see — viscerally feel — the bias against Harris for her color and gender, even within her own party, you are missing something fundamental.

Winning vs. serving

I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep saying it: If we believe Biden is not fit to run, doesn’t that mean he’s not fit to serve?

Biden is not easily dropping out of this race. The Biden family was forged under pressure and knows how to withstand it — from the death of his first wife and daughter in a car accident, to his son Beau’s death from cancer, to his son Hunter‘s addictions. The recent moment that brought that home for me was when Jill Biden left a high-profile state visit in France in June for a 72-hour trip back to Delaware to be in the courtroom for Hunter’s gun trial. The Bidens stick together, and they don’t quit.

Whatever you think Joe should do, it’s clear on multiple levels that this is a fight against the clock — and for once, time is on Biden’s side.

The Democratic National Convention is 39 days away — beginning Aug. 19 in Chicago. The delegates will officially nominate him (or not) weeks before that. After they do, there’s really no going back.

If Democrats want to regain any credibility with the American people, it will not be through a last-minute gladiator fight to the nomination.

It will be through speaking truth. For Biden, that means meaningfully giving proof he is up to the job.

For the rest of the party, that means letting the American people know of their own interactions with the president, good or bad, and moving through the line of succession (if need be) without the fear that has driven the election, and the country, to the brink of chaos.

The must-read: George Clooney: I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee.
The dam-breakers: Ex-Obama aides react to George Clooney’s op-ed on President Biden
The L.A. Times Special: Newsom stands by Biden, repeats that he wouldn’t run against Harris

Stay Golden,
Anita Chabria

P.S. Here’s an animal story, because we all need a break. A guy is riding his mountain bike on the Central Coast when a mountain lion jumps out of a tree and attacks him. He survives with no major injuries and reports the incident. But when DNA is run on his clothing, turns out it wasn’t a mountain lion — just an ordinary house cat. Embarrassing.

You can read the story here.

This cat was not the one that attacked the biker. It’s just a good-looking cat.

(Emanuel Röhss)

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