Who's calling for President Biden to drop another race Also
include one of his biggest supporters and donors in Hollywood.
You see the headline there?
Actor George Clooney wrote an op-ed for the New York
Times saying that even though he is a lifelong Democrat,
he believes the president should drop out.
Clooney went on to say while changing nominees would be,
quote, messy, he believes it is the way the party
should go.
And this is exactly what voters want to do.
Less than a month ago,
Clooney Co hosted a fundraiser with the president,
drawing in a record $28 million
for the Democratic Party. So to talk about this and
more,
we have our political experts joining us now here at
the roundtable,
once again on the Democratic side,
at Emerson Republican side. Tim Rosales.
Guys, appreciate you being back here.
Last time we spoke, it was immediately after that disastrous
debate.
And I don't know if any of us anticipated.
I think we're we're almost 14 days.
This this is the stories had legs,
as we like to say
in the industry. And and I know we talked about
the members of Congress and George Clooney,
mega donor, actor, beloved and Democratic politics.
But what stood out to me was when I watched
that interview with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi today on Morning
Joe Speaker Pelosi,
whether you like her and or not,
she's a very calculated politician and she doesn't say things
mistakenly.
She knows what she is doing.
And when she said to those hosts
he has a decision to make,
he's already made the decision,
right? Yeah. Yeah. That was a nudge,
right? It's funny. Is it?
He's telling Tim backstage. OK,
Mr. Mr. President, we, we feel like your debate performance,
maybe you should consider stepping aside.
And he went, OK, I'm not stepping aside.
And when everyone went, wait,
the way that stopped the decision.
Like when you when you,
you know, talk to your teenager and you say,
OK, you got two decisions here.
We're going to let you make it.
And they make the wrong one.
They're like, OK, we're going to ask.
We're going to ask you again.
We're going to ask the question.
He said, you know, it's up to Joe
and, and here I am as as a lifelong Democrat,
a yellow dog Democrat, which means I'd vote for a
yellow dog before I'd vote for a Republican.
I tell you what, he is our guy.
He's been a great president.
200,000 more jobs. The other guy is the bum in
the room.
I mean, we got to defeat Donald Trump.
I think right now, this moment is the time for
Kamala Harris to step forward.
She's going to be a great candidate.
She's a good person. I think Joe has done his
service.
I think it should happen
at the convention. You know,
maybe it's so that's how you're you're leaning,
it sounds like you're leaning towards you believe he's going
to step aside here.
And, and just for folks who might be new to
this segment,
if you are where you been,
but I mean, you, you,
you've worked in Democratic politics for a very long time.
You were in the Clinton White House.
You have been through scandals before.
You know how these things sort of,
you know, can work themselves out.
And you have been talking to a lot of folks
in
that are high up advisors in Democratic politics.
And this seems
this is where they want the president to go.
But it just seems like he's
not going to agree with them.
I mean, how, how at this point does Joe Biden
say,
OK, wait a minute, I think you guys are right
because now I believe late this afternoon he was challenging
George Clooney stamina.
And that seems like something
that they accused Donald Trump of doing,
right? Everybody in that position,
Republican or Democrat, has an ego,
right? And you're not president of the United States without
a pretty big,
a pretty big ego. You have to have it right.
It's not a bad, it's not a bad thing.
You have to be able to look at yourself in
the mirror and say,
I can run the free world,
right? You have to you have to think pretty highly
of yourself to do the job that you have to
do every day.
And I think that's where President Biden is right now.
He's looking in the mirror and saying,
of course I can do this job.
And I think there are people around him who are
saying,
of course you can do this job.
And I think there's a faction within the Democratic Party
who's starting to be more and more vocal.
We saw from Speaker Pelosi today.
We saw it from George Clooney.
We're seeing it from, you know,
donors and that and that type of thing.
One senator from Vermont and,
you know, some members of Congress are saying,
maybe you need to reconsider.
Maybe you need to look at what is best not
only for the party but for the country because ultimately
we're picking a president in November for the next four
years. So you're taking a look at either of these
two individuals and saying
forecasting, where are you 2 and three and four years
from where we are today?
You're also shaping Congress potentially for the next 10 when
you're talking about the Senate,
right? And that's where you're seeing a lot of folks
that are in these tight spots like Jon Tester in
Montana.
I mean, of course, out here in California where deep
blue state,
there are some districts congressionally that
could be potentially not great for the Democrats.
But you have Sherrod Brown,
you have Jon Tester those,
I mean, we're talking about if,
if Democrats are looking down ballot,
that's where the concern too is,
right, Ed? It's always a
tough down ballot because if it were up to me
and it's not,
thank God, I wouldn't spend a dime in Florida or
Ohio if I was the California or the National Democratic
Party.
I just wouldn't go there.
I mean, we spent so much money.
It's down ticket. It's these congressional races,
it's these Senate races and Assembly races for the State
House.
It's so important that we show a unified front and
push through.
Biden goes on television in Florida and they're great ads,
but he's going to get beat by 20 points.
But we still have to run the ads for those
folks.
And it's frustrating because I believe it's a waste of
money.
Well, and even in California,
we're a deep blue state,
but you have House seats,
congressional seats that are up for grabs,
some here just locally. Yeah,
we have Adam Grey, John Doherty.
What was that decided by like 40 votes or something?
Adam Grey, John. Yeah. Doherty,
You've got Kevin Lincoln, Josh Harder.
I mean, you've got these seats that are that are
marginal Democratic and Republican seats that can go either way.
And people vote based on the top of the ticket.
That is a huge, huge motivator,
particularly in in obviously in presidential elections,
but in off your elections too.
But presidential elections, people are turning out to vote for
president and that impacts every race down ticket.
And and I just want to
drill down on this too,
just for our folks at home that might not be
following these congressional races because when we were talking about
this election season,
it was the battle for the House and the Senate.
And Adam Schiff said it on Meet the Press on
Sunday.
He's like Joe Biden should be wiping the floor with
Donald Trump and he's not.
So this is the new concern for Democrats.
And I found that this was
very interesting too. There's a House seat down in Riverside,
I believe California 39, Mark Takano.
I mean, that was a big Biden seat.
And now Trump is beating by and that's Riverside County
and Trump is now winning.
And, and I just think that it's going to be
interesting to see what happens over
really the next few days.
But I also wonder about this theory.
OK, so we both, we talk about this a lot
in terms of trust in government in Congress.
It's at an all time low,
right? People also hate the media,
not local media, but national media.
They hate national media. They hate
cable news. They think it's,
you know, they think everybody's biased.
They don't feel like they're being told the truth every
single night.
So then you have Joe Biden all the all of
a sudden on his heels saying,
you know what? I'm not going to listen to the
elites.
I'm not going to listen to George Clooney.
I'm not going to listen to the press.
Is that what you said?
Well, and that's what I thought was interesting too.
It's like, OK, the elites that told Bernie Sanders to
step aside in the last election cycle because he couldn't
win and Joe Biden could.
But we'll put that theory aside.
But do you think that they're,
I go back to, you know,
the whole Bill Clinton special counsel Ken Starr,
it turned Bill Clinton into a victim in a way.
Do you think that that Joe Biden can ride this
out where he sees?
I mean, people don't like Congress.
They don't trust politicians, they don't trust government and they
don't trust the national media and they're all railing against
Joe Biden.
It's part of the calculation.
There's no question. You have to
you have to put your best foot forward
and you have to put your best candidate for the
old axioms come to mind.
You can't beat somebody with nobody.
Joe Biden needs to make that decision.
He's made a decision and we disagree.
I think he's got to step up.
I think he has to step aside.
I think doing it at the convention would be an
opportunity to elevate and and blow Kamala through the roof,
so to speak, on an on Air Force One.
I think it is an opportunity
for us to go back and focus on what a
bomb Donald Trump is.
Well, Speaking of Donald Trump,
I won't describe it the way you did,
but
how do you feel that he has played this?
I think he's played it perfectly.
He's he's kept his, you know,
keep your head down. Not a lot of comments,
not a lot of comments.
I think, you know, letting the Democrats kind of fight
and,
and, and, and kind of have this,
have this battle internally and not get in the way
because, you know, also the Democrats have a have another
problem and they're looking at these options.
OK, who would replace Joe Biden?
And their big problem is sure,
you can take a Ferrari body and put it on
a bad engine,
but you still have an unreliable car.
And so any of these other personalities that they're talking
about,
Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, G
you know others, Pritzker, Pritzker,
yeah, name, name
Buttigieg. They all are flawed candidates in some way.
And then on the name ID too,
right? And there is and and I,
but I do think the Democrats name won't do this,
but someone like an Andy Beshear from,
from Kentucky or a Southern Democrat or a more moderate
Democrat who could really appeal,
You know, I think that is a really tough sell
for a lot of Democrats on the more progressive side.
And that's the side that's controlling the party right now
to do so. You know,
the fact is, is I don't see
a, a candidate that can come in and do demonstrably
better than what Joe Biden is doing right now for
the Democrats.
I think that's, that's, that's part of the problem and
just we have to go.
But I just want to make it clear,
you think he's going to step aside?
I think we're going to have some serious thinking going
on at the White House,
and I think that'll be the conclusion.
OK, more to come. Still,
whoever had this on their bingo card,
No one. No one. No one.
All right, guys, appreciate it,
as always. Love the civil discussion always.
Yeah, we can bring Tim,
Tim on. And he's not a Republican that's going to
dunk on you,
Ed. Thank you. In your time,
you could have been a sorrow.
Although I am taller. Totally.
Guys, thanks so much for your appreciation.