You know Joe Biden is in trouble when Donald Trump is attacking his critics.
Trump is speaking out about George Clooney‘s devastating New York Times op-ed which called on Biden to drop out of the presidential election — by criticizing Clooney.
“So now fake movie actor George Clooney, who never came close to making a great movie, is getting into the act,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “He’s turned on Crooked Joe like the rats they both are. What does Clooney know about anything?? He uses the Democrat ‘talking point’ that Biden, the WORST President in the history of the United States, has ‘saved our Democracy.’ No, Crooked Joe was the one who WEAPONIZED Law Enforcement against his political Opponent, who created the most devastating INFLATION in the history of our Country, who Embarrassed our Nation in Afghanistan, and whose crazy Open Border Policy has allowed millions of people to illegally pour into our Country, many from prisons and mental institutions. Crooked Joe Biden didn’t save our Democracy, he brought our Democracy to its knees. Clooney should get out of politics and go back to television. Movies never really worked for him!!!”
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(For the record, Clooney has had a number of successful and acclaimed films — such as Gravity, Ocean’s Eleven and its sequels, The Perfect Storm and Up In the Air.)
It’s been suggested by political pundits that Trump probably wants Biden to stay in the race given post-debate polls show Trump increasing his pre-debate lead (though a new poll Thursday shows the two as essentially tied nationally). Trump has previously predicted Biden wouldn’t drop out, per Axios: “It looks to me like he may very well stay in” because “he’s got an ego and he doesn’t want to quit … Nobody wants to give that up that way. He’s going to feel badly about himself for a long time. It’s hard to give it up that way, the way where they’re trying to force him out.”
Over on Thursday’s The View, Joy Behar also criticized Clooney for his essay: “President Biden is fighting right now for his political future. George Clooney wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times claiming that after he saw Biden’s condition at the recent fundraiser, he doesn’t think he’s up for the gig. George Clooney? Couldn’t he tell him that in person, for god’s sakes?” She jokingly added, “I’m mad at George Clooney right now, even though we dated — I wish.”
Agreed Sunny Hostin: “I don’t like that George Clooney aired this dirty laundry to the world. I think these conversations are happening, I think they should be happening because our democracy is at stake, but they should be happening privately with the Commander-in-Chief, who we should have the utmost respect for.”
But Alyssa Farah Griffin disagreed: “Joe Biden’s feelings don’t matter more than our country.”
Also, TheWall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Biden campaign officials sought to intervene to prevent Clooney’s op-ed from publishing, per an unidentified source described as being familiar with the discussions. Critics of Clooney also privately pointed out for the story that his wife, Amal Clooney, is among a panel of experts supportive of the International Criminal Court’s decision to seek an arrest warrant against Israeli leaders for their role in the conflict in Gaza, which has put her at odds with Biden.
Clooney co-hosted a star-studded $28 million fundraiser for Biden last June that included luminaries such as former President Barack Obama, Julia Roberts and Jimmy Kimmel. Following a viral clip captured by The Hollywood Reporter‘s Chris Gardner at the event, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dismissed speculation that Biden froze while standing on stage and had to be guided by Obama.
Biden’s own team fired back at the essay late Wednesday, sniping, “The President stayed for over three hours [at the fundraiser], while Clooney took a photo quickly and left.”
Times columnist Nicholas Kristof reacted to that statement with incredulity on X: “Biden is really trying to claim that he’s more vigorous than George Clooney? Really? I’ve traveled with Clooney for days over rough roads in sub-Saharan Africa, and it’s just sad to see Biden pretend that he can outlast Clooney at anything. I admire Biden. So does Clooney. But at least Clooney put his name on his essay; this is anonymous White House backstabbing, and incompetent to boot.”
The president’s campaign has also pointed out that Biden attended the fundraiser having just flown in from Italy, where he had been attending the G7 summit.
Clooney, a longtime Biden supporter, says that Biden’s performance at the fundraiser was similar to his worrisome appearance at the debate.
“I love Joe Biden,” Clooney wrote. “As a senator. As a vice president and as president. I consider him a friend, and I believe in him. Believe in his character. Believe in his morals. In the last four years, he’s won many of the battles he’s faced. But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can. 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.”
Continued Clooney: “Our 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. 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. Every single one, irrespective of what he or she is saying publicly.”
Added Clooney, “[If Biden stepped aside] we could go into the Democratic convention next month and figure it out. Would it be messy? Yes. Democracy is messy. But would it enliven our party and wake up voters who, long before the June debate, had already checked out? It sure would.”
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
