Jim Himes, a congressional representative from Connecticut who holds the highest-ranking Democrat-controlled seat on the House Intelligence Committee. He also has joined the chorus of political and media voices on the left side of the aisle that are calling for President Joe Biden to decline the Democrat party nomination for the office of the Presidency in the upcoming 2024 Presidential election.
What changed his mind?
The President’s performance at the press conference at the NATO summit on the night of Thursday, July 11.
Biden managed to make it through the Thursday night press conference with fewer gaffes and moments of bewilderment than normal, which makes the Representative’s public reversal unexpected. Nonetheless, what Himes saw from his position as a man in the Intelligence Community’s loop led him to post to social media platform X that, while he has tremendous respect for Biden’s public service record, accomplishments, and legacy, he now believes that that by standing for re-election Biden will be risking his historic legacy. The president, therefore, must “step away” from campaigning for re-election, Himes said. The outcome of the 2024 election will, in Himes’s estimation, define the future of the American political trajectory. He therefore wants the Democrats to put forth a stronger candidate to go up against Trump. Himes no longer believes that Biden is an appropriate candidate for the job.
In the current election cycle, Democrats have been advancing the talking point that Trump presents an existential threat to democracy in America. Trump has countered by pledging that he will not, in any way, be a dictator, except that on the first day of his presidency he will close the border and unencumber oil drilling in particular and energy production in general.
Himes is seventeenth House Democrat to call for Biden’s withdrawal since his disappointing debate showing opposite Trump in June. Vermont Senator Peter Welch, also a Democrat, is also on record urging Biden to withdraw.
