Here's Why George Clooney Once Said Trumps Belong in the 'Dustbin of History'

In 2021, George Clooney slammed former president Donald Trump for the protests at U.S. Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.  On an episode of KCRW's The Business, Clooney expressed his deepest sorrow about watching 'the People’s House being desecrated in that way'. While talking to show-host, Kim Masters, the actor expressed his dismay over the demonstration by Trump supporters.

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, he said, "It’s devastating to watch the people’s house being desecrated in that way. But it is also a tremendous overreach in a way — everybody kept waiting for, what’s the one thing, the straw that breaks the camel’s back and it just seemed like that line kept getting moved and moved and moved and outrage didn’t even matter anymore."

Subsequently, he discussed a phone conversation that became public in which Trump allegedly requested Brad Raffensperger, the Secretary of State of Georgia, to 'find' more votes to help him defeat Joe Biden for the state. Clooney said, "Even to the point of calling the Secretary of State in Georgia and pressuring him. None of that seemed to matter. This mattered."

He further stated, "This puts Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka, all of them, into the dustbin of history. That name will now forever be associated with insurrection." Clooney went on to cite a comment made by General John F. Kelly, a former chief of staff of the White House. Kelly had said that he would have voted to remove Trump from office by invoking the 25th Amendment if he had been a cabinet member.

Clooney pressed, "This is a big, big difference. If this is what it takes to set us on the right path, I think that, not that it's worth it, it's not worth it in any shape or form, but at least we should find something hopeful to come out of some of this disaster." An increasing number of people at the time were demanding Trump's removal from office before the conclusion of his tenure. Later in a video message he officially conceded defeat to Biden and denounced the violence. 

To overturn the election outcome in November 2020, hundreds of Trump supporters converged for a 'Save America' protest on January 6, 2021. Near the White House in Washington DC, on the National Mall, they listened as Trump spoke to them. Trump urged them to march on Congress in a 70-minute speech, where lawmakers were gathered to confirm Democrat Biden's victory. As reported by NBC News, 'Stop the Steal' was the name of the rally. In his address to the crowd, Trump urged them to insist that lawmakers "do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated." Vice President Mike Pence was instructed by Trump to deny Biden's victory confirmation, as the president himself made plain.