On Wednesday, The New York Times op-ed section published a blunt essay from George Clooney, in which the actor and director, one of Hollywood’s more engaged political players, forcefully argues for President Joe Biden to step aside in his campaign for reelection and allow a new candidate to take on Donald Trump in November.

Clooney, who has starred in and directed several politically minded films over his career, did not mince words in the essay, writing that the Biden he spent time with at a recent fundraiser that the Hollywood A-lister co-hosted three weeks ago is not the same man who won in 2020, but is the one 51 million Americans saw with their own eyes at his disastrous debate performance on June 27.

“Was he tired? Yes. A cold? Maybe,” Clooney wrote of the debate performance that has sent Democrats into a panic and that is now dividing the party. “But...