After Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance that left millions of Democrats reaching for the cyanide and/or googling “how to obtain citizenship on the moon,” Barack Obama took to X to defend his former vice president, writing: “Bad debate nights happen. Trust me, I know. But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself. Between someone who tells the truth; who knows right from wrong and will give it to the American people straight — and someone who lies through his teeth for his own benefit. Last night didn’t change that, and it’s why so much is at stake in November.”

In private, though, the 44th president was reportedly just as worried about the election as anyone, telling allies, according to The Washington Post, that he believed “that President Biden’s already tough path to reelection grew more challenging after his shaky debate performance on Thursday—a harsher assessment of the presidential race than his public comments.” Has Obama called for Biden to drop out? No, but clearly his feelings on the matter are complicated, as evidenced by not only the above, but also the fact that he reportedly knew George Clooney was going to blow up Biden’s universe on Wednesday—by telling the world the president is too old to win in November—and didn’t do anything to stop it.

Politico reports that before the Hollywood actor (and major Democratic donor) published his New York Times op-ed calling for Biden to step down, he “reached out to former president Barack Obama to give him a heads-up.” As Politico, which spoke to people familiar with the conversation, notes: “While Obama did not encourage or advise Clooney to say what he said, he also didn’t object to it.” The outlet adds that “the lack of pushback is an eye-popping revelation given that the former president was one of the first big voices defending Biden following his abysmal debate performance (while many of his former aides have been some of the incumbent’s biggest critics).”

A spokesperson for Obama did not respond to Vanity Fair’s request for comment. But the news does not appear to be going over well with the Biden campaign, which, according to MSNBC’s Morning Joe, believes that Obama “is quietly working behind the scenes to orchestrate this.”

Meanwhile, in response to Clooney’s assertion that Biden’s demeanor at a fundraiser last month was similar to what we saw on the debate stage, a campaign official told CNN’s Kayla Tausche that “George Clooney left [the event] three hours before the president.” Which is apparently supposed to imply that Biden is in better shape than the actor.

In related news, Donald Trump has responded to Clooney’s call for Biden to step down by…attacking Clooney. On Truth Social, he ranted to his followers:

So now fake movie actor George Clooney, who never came close to making a great movie, is getting into the act. 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!!!

While it might seem odd for Trump to criticize Clooney for saying Biden has no chance of beating him, it’s important to remember two things: (1) Trump is a deeply deranged individual (who should not be allowed within 1,000 feet of the White House ever again) and (2) Team Trump wants Biden to stay in the race—presumably because its members are worried about Trump’s odds against a potential replacement.

She’s not wrong!

Swing and a miss

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