Hunter Biden’s tirade: ‘An extraordinary, arrogant sense of entitlement’
Joe Biden’s son Hunter has attacked George Clooney for his role in pressuring the former president to step down in the 2024 election campaign.
Listen to this article
Read time: 3 minutes
In brief:
- Hunter Biden, son of Joe Biden, has attacked Democratic Party donor George Clooney for his 2024 op-ed in the New York Times calling for the former president to step down as nominee in the presidential election.
- Biden blamed his father's debate struggles on being "tired as shit" from taking Ambien sleeping medication and suggested Clooney's opposition was partly personal due to Biden's criticism of an ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu (which Clooney's wife Amal had recommended).
- The News Agents describe the interview as unhelpful to Democrats trying to regroup after their election loss, calling it an "extraordinary tirade" that displayed arrogance and entitlement rather than accountability for Biden's campaign failures.
What’s the story?
Hunter Biden has lashed out at George Clooney for his take-down of Joe Biden during the 2024 presidential campaign.
“Fuck him and everybody around him. I don’t have to be fucking nice!” he said during a three-hour interview with US news outlet Channel 5.
Clooney, a donor to the Democratic Party, wrote an op-ed in the New York Times calling for a new nominee just weeks after Biden’s disastrous presidential debate with Donald Trump.
Referencing the infamous debate, Hunter Biden said his father was like a “deer in headlights” and blamed his poor performance on being “tired as shit” from taking Ambien, a medication for sleeping disorders.
Less than two weeks after Clooney's piece was published, Joe Biden withdrew from the election clearing the way for Kamala Harris to become the Democratic nominee.
Hunter Biden attacked Clooney for his treatment of his father, saying he’s “not a fucking actor” and rhetorically asking him; “What do you have to do with fucking anything?”
“What right do you have to step on a man who’s given… his fucking life to the service of this country and decide that you, George Clooney, are going to take out basically a full page ad in the fucking New York Times,” he said.
He also shared his belief that Clooney’s change of heart towards his father was somewhat personal, claiming that, at the time, the actor was “bitching” to White House staff because Joe Biden criticised the international criminal court (ICC)’s decision to obtain an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu.
Amal Clooney, who is married to George Clooney, was one of the human rights lawyers who recommended that the ICC seek that warrant.
“He was so angry that the president would criticise the arrest warrant,” Hunter Biden said.
What’s The News Agents’ take?
The lengthy interview - or as Emily Maitlis describes it, "extraordinary tirade” - saw Hunter Biden fiercely condemn not only Clooney, but several other high profile democrats that he felt should have shown more solidarity with his father.
“Honestly when I listened to this the first time I thought it was a parody of Hunter Biden,” Jon Sopel says on The News Agents.
As the democrats tried to pull together after a devastating loss to Donald Trump and the Republican’s last year, Jon says this interview was “the last freaking thing on earth that they needed”.
“The last thing they need is Hunter Biden, with his troubled past, with his drug taking and illegal holding of guns, sounding off in this way,” he adds.
“If you are Donald Trump, you’re going to point people to that video and say ‘Enjoy!’”
Watching the interview, Emily says you might be inclined to think Biden is simply railing against all the Democrats who let Biden down, or, you might say he’s “proving the point of all those who felt the Biden family just became a law unto themselves”.
One thing is for certain, that there is no excuse - including Hunter Biden’s one of sleeping pills - that could excuse Joe Biden’s poor performance in the damning presidential debate.
“I've taken Ambien,” Jon says.
“You can be tired and still be able to form sentences - have a very strong cup of coffee, and you will get through it.
“The adrenaline should have seen him through it.”
Ultimately, he adds, the interview displays no sense of coming to terms with Biden’s undoing, which is “spectacularly unhelpful for the Democratic Party”.
“The thing that shone through to me was the extraordinary arrogant sense of entitlement - that because he'd been there for 52 years, he needed to be there for another four years,” Jon says.
“It was absolutely plain for anyone to see, who had any common sense whatsoever, that Joe Biden was not fit to take on Donald Trump.”