George Clooney is having a moment—and not the kind you’d want after a career in the spotlight.
The Hollywood actor and liberal activist has fired back at President Donald Trump after the commander-in-chief recently called him a “fake movie actor” who “never came close to making a great movie.” The jab came in the wake of Clooney’s decision last year to turn on Joe Biden and call for his replacement—just before Kamala Harris led Democrats to a historic defeat in the 2024 election.
Now Clooney says he’s unbothered by the presidential mockery. “I don’t care. I’ve known Donald Trump for a long time,” he told CBS’s Gayle King. “My job is not to please the president of the United States. My job is to try and tell the truth when I can and when I have the opportunity.”
But if that sounds like a man with thick skin, his recent appearances say otherwise. Clooney has appeared increasingly defensive in media interviews, even invoking the First Amendment to justify his political outbursts. “The idea of freedom of speech is you can’t demand freedom of speech and then say, ‘But don’t say bad things about me,’” he said during a recent CNN appearance.
The real source of Clooney’s PR headaches, however, isn’t Trump—it’s his own party.
The actor was hit with fierce backlash from Hollywood elites and Democrat loyalists after publishing a high-profile op-ed last summer calling on Biden to drop out of the race. That move, widely credited with opening the door for Kamala Harris’s ill-fated candidacy, is now seen as one of the biggest blunders of the 2024 cycle.
In the aftermath of Harris’s humiliating loss to Trump, several prominent Democrats quietly blamed Clooney for pushing Biden aside when the party was already on shaky ground.
But Clooney, still trying to frame himself as the truth-teller in the room, continues to double down. He now claims it was the media—not himself—that failed the American people, insisting the press “forced his hand” by covering for Biden’s deteriorating performance.
That may be cold comfort for those still recovering from the party’s electoral drubbing. Trump’s second term has been defined by swift policy reversals, aggressive executive orders, and a GOP base more energized than ever. Meanwhile, Democrats are still trying to figure out who’s left to carry the torch in 2028.
For his part, Trump isn’t letting up on Clooney—or Hollywood in general. The president has taken aim at celebrities more frequently in recent months, especially those who attempted to influence the election or discredit his second administration.
When Trump called Clooney a “fake actor,” it wasn’t just a personal swipe—it was part of a broader shot at what many on the right see as a fading celebrity elite desperate to remain relevant in a political world they no longer control.
And judging by Clooney’s rattled responses, the insult might have hit harder than he’d care to admit.
