Deep dive: President Clooney?
He’s long been rumoured to be planning a bid for the presidency. Now senior aides reveal the truth – and why amal is his ‘secret weapon’ By George , he might just do i t!
After enjoying a golden career in Hollywood, it’s no exaggeration to say that George Clooney has lost his movie-making touch of late. Last month, following a series of box office bombs both in front of and behind the camera, his latest directorial effort, Suburbicon, was pulled from 1,700 screens in the US and received scathing reviews (one critic wrote, ‘ Watching it is like having your trouser-leg savaged by an energetic small dog’).
But there’s one real-life role that a large audience still hankers to see Clooney play: the American politician. Headlines asking if ‘a Clooney presidency could save America’ ( The Guardian) and stating ‘ Why George Clooney should run for President’ ( E! News) are becoming increasingly prevalent. Plus, one Democratic operative tells me that his wife Amal could be his ‘secret weapon’ in a bid for the White House.
Despite the speculation, Clooney himself has spent decades denying that he has designs on the Oval Office. In 2015, while promoting Our Brand Is Crisis, he insisted, ‘ I’ve been asked that for almost 20 years now and the answer is just no. Who would ever want to live like that? I’m friends with a lot of those guys and I just think it’s hell.’
But then Trump happened and, by this September, Clooney appeared to have changed his position. ‘ Would I like to be the next President? Oh, that sounds like fun,’ he joked. Next, he hinted at his retirement, telling an interviewer, ‘Look, I acted for a long time and, you know, I’m 56. I’m not the guy that gets the girl any more.’
Take a closer look behind his movie star facade, and it’s easy to see why the actor is touted as a plausible player who could save the Democratic Party after Hillary Clinton’s devastating defeat last year. There have been his years of support and fundraising efforts for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. There is the time and money he’s invested in his fight for human rights in Darfur, for which he was given the title of UN goodwill ambassador in 2008. And then, as mentioned, there’s his 2014 marriage to human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin.
The American political landscape is no stranger to movie stars. Ronald Reagan successfully made the leap from actor to politician, becoming the 40th President of the United States in 1981. Reagan’s trajectory included becoming the Governor of California, a position later held by Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s understood Clooney won’t be running for the same position next year – he’s signed on to star in the TV adaptation of Catch-22, his only upcoming acting project – and yet, talk of his political drive persists. This February, for instance, the New
Statesman published an article by political commentator Sasha Abramsky with the
in 2015, he called the Hollywood elitist tag ‘frustrating. I grew up as a Democrat in Kentucky in the ’70s… [I] didn’t move to Hollywood and become a Democrat.’
Political campaigner Jocelyn Wallace, who specialises in opposition research for the Democrats – otherwise known as mudslinging between parties – believes he would face some very significant hurdles. She tells me she’s long heard whispers within campaign walls of Clooney’s objectives, but adds that his association as a member of the Hollywood elite could work against him. ‘ He’s absolutely a potential candidate,’ she asserts. ‘ But looking at it from an opposition research point of view, he’s going to take a lot of hits in terms of being far too liberal. Even with his marriage to Amal, who has defended controversial figures, from Julian Assange to Mohamed Fahmy [the Al Jazeera journalist jailed in Egypt]. Of course, she’s a human rights lawyer, but it could be used against them.’
It’s worth noting, however, that George has already shown himself to be a man who can put human needs above party politics. In 2005, he called on 41st US President George HW Bush for help in the wake of Hurricane Rita, which hit 26 days after Hurricane Katrina. Despite Clooney’s Democratic alliance, Bush agreed to help, later telling the crowd, ‘ What he has done for the morale of this town is remarkable.’
Plus, he’s already winning the support of legitimate political insiders. Among them is Laura Schwartz, who worked for the Clinton administration for eight years from 1993-2001, beginning as a volunteer and becoming the White House director of events. Now a respected political pundit and speaker, she is resolute about Clooney’s future career in politics. ‘ He was a big supporter of Hillary Clinton and he was certainly a supporter of Bill Clinton when we were in office,’ she says, though he and any other Democratic candidates would be wise to distance themselves from Hillary, considering the toxic reaction she still triggers from many American voters.
Schwartz reveals that Clooney has long looked up to Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire businessman who served as Mayor of New York from 2002 to 2013 and who considered a presidential run in 2016 but later dropped out. ‘ Like Bloomberg, George is at a point where he’s working out if he can be more influential as a private citizen, with his celebrity, wealth and connections, or if he can be more influential as a politician,’ she adds.
Either way, Schwartz predicts Clooney will now be involved in the political arena far more than his entertainment career. Indeed, his philanthropic efforts with Amal show no signs of wavering. Through the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which they set up late last year, the power couple have this year pledged to fund public schools for 3,000 Syrian refugee children in Lebanon, after partnering with UNICEF and Google. In the wake of violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, they also teamed up with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) this year, giving a $ 1m donation to help the SPLC combat hate groups in the US.
Schwartz puts it down to him becoming a father, adding, ‘ You always hear that in campaigns, “Let’s leave this world better for our kids than we inherited it.” George for years said that he would never have kids, and then he did [twins Ella and Alexander, born in June]. So, I think it’s only natural as a parent to all of a sudden realise, “OK, this has really got to get better because even after I’ve gone, they’re going to be here,” and do something about it.’ Clooney himself said, ‘ I have always felt a great sense of responsibility to other people in the world, but when you have children of your own, you realise you are responsible for their lives in a way you haven’t been before. And you become conscious that you want to make an example of your life that they will follow.’
Meanwhile, Amal is no stranger to getting involved in US politics. In January last year, the activist and attorney travelled to Washington DC to urge Congress and the Trump Administration to take notice of the mounting human rights abuses and rising jihadism in the Maldives. Amal, whose client is former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed, told viewers of the Today show at the time: ‘ US values are at stake, democracy is at stake.’ Amal reportedly left with a promise from senior US government officials that they would take serious action on her concerns. She also hinted to NBC correspondent Cynthia Mcfadden that this was just the beginning. ‘I think I’m exercising [my celebrity status] in an appropriate manner by continuing to do this kind of work,’ she said.
So could we really see one of Hollywood’s most famous actors replace Trump in 2020? Former NBC White House correspondent Chris Jansing tells Grazia not to rule anything out, but warns voters may crave an experienced politician. ‘Donald Trump has historically low approval ratings right now, which would argue against another “outsider” candidate’s success in 2020,’ she explains. ‘ But unlike Trump, George Clooney has a long record as a humanitarian and activist and he’s put his substantial wealth behind those causes.’
Jansing asserts that a Clooney presidency has never seemed more exciting: ‘From a purely stylistic perspective, which matters in politics, George and Amal Clooney would be the most glamorous First Couple since the Kennedys. Studies show that no candidate before Trump had ever gotten as much TV time during a campaign. Clooney could rival, if not exceed that.’
he’s going to take a lot of hits in terms of being far too liberal