George Clooney has clapped back at former President Donald Trump, who called for him to abandon politics, saying, "I will if he does."
Clooney, who is one of Hollywood's top Democrat fundraisers, made his political stance known when he penned an op-ed for The New York Times, calling for President Joe Biden to abandon his election campaign following his disastrous debate with Trump.
"Was he tired? Yes. A cold? Maybe. But 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," Clooney wrote.
"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."
Less than two weeks later, Biden withdrew his reelection bid and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
His remarks irked Trump, who in a July post on Truth Social, called the Academy Award winner a "fake movie actor."
"Clooney should get out of politics and go back to television. Movies never really worked for him!" Trump said at the time.
"He's a big fan of mine," Clooney said during a Tuesday interview on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" when asked about Trump's comments.
"That's a trade-off I'd do," he added.
Clooney also discussed his controversial New York Times op-ed with Kimmel.
"It did actually change the world — it had an enormous impact on the presidential election," Kimmel told Clooney.
"I don't know that that's true," Clooney, 63, responded.
"The bottom line is that it's very hard to let go of power and President Biden did something really extraordinary," Clooney said.
"Honestly, I really do feel think that's what should be focused on," he added.
The move, Clooney laughed, "could've gone very badly."
"It could still go badly," he added.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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