Clooney: No 2020 Dem candidate ‘lights up a room’

George Clooney says Democrats have yet to find a potential 2020 nominee who “lights up a room” like President Trump.
“Trump, for all his terrible instincts, is very charismatic. A TV star,” the “Suburbicon” director told Britain’s The Sunday Times.
“People didn’t vote for [Trump] because he accomplished anything. They knew him. And they were, like, he’s exciting. He says outlandish stuff. That’s fun. He’s got a star on Hollywood Boulevard,” said Clooney, one of Hollywood’s most outspoken Democrats and a supporter of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton last year.
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“I sat with the Democratic committee and said, ‘You guys keep coming to us for money, but you don’t come to us for the one thing we know how to do,’ ” Clooney said, “which is make a poster that steals opening weekend. But we don’t have a good Democratic candidate yet. We don’t have anybody who lights up a room.”
When asked if Democrats need a celebrity to compete in the next presidential race, the 56-year-old Academy Award winner responded, “Not necessarily.”
“But you need someone who can light up the room. You need what Barack Obama had: He showed up and you went, ‘That guy speaks to my voice.’
“Democrats in general are very passive. In debates, the Republican will go, ‘That guy’s bad, and that guy’s good.’ And the Democrat will say, ‘Well, I understand what you’re saying, because your parents were alcoholics …’ And the reality is that you need people who go, ‘That’s good. That’s bad.’ ”
Talk of a potential political bid has long trailed Clooney. But the dad of two and fierce Trump critic nixed adding his name to any list of 2020 White House hopefuls.
“I don’t have political aspirations,” Clooney said.
“I have always been involved in politics. My father ran for Congress. It’s been in our family forever. But, mostly, I can help in ways I actually know very well, like messaging [voters].”
Clooney added, “So many people since Trump was elected have really been pushing on me to get more involved in actual politics, specifically at the highest office.”
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