By The opinion
11 Jul 2024, 23:23 PM EDT
Senator Peter Welch, a representative from Vermont, became the first member of the Senate to publicly call on President Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race, and now three more lawmakers from the same party have joined him.
House Representatives Eric Sorensen, Scott Peters and Jim Himes released statements acknowledging Biden’s work during his term, but asking him to make way for a different kind of leadership in the run-up to the presidential election.
This is despite Biden defending his candidacy after confusing Kamala Harris with Trump and Zelensky with Putin. The US president insists that he is the best qualified to beat his Republican rival and assures that age gives him “wisdom”.
Joe Biden’s record of public service is unrivaled. His accomplishments are immense. His legacy as a great president is secure.
He must not risk that legacy, those accomplishments and American democracy to soldier on in the face of the horrors promised by Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/FMMrTK8pb8
— Jim Himes 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇦🇺🇦 (@jahimes) July 12, 2024
The November election, Himes wrote on his X account, “will define the future of American democracy.”
“We need to put forward the strongest candidate possible (…) I no longer believe that is” Biden, said the congressman, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
They bring the total to 17 members of Congress from the president’s own party who have publicly expressed their desire for another candidate to face former President Donald Trump in November.
And in the coming days, an avalanche of more Democratic voices against a Biden candidacy is expected.
According to US network CBS, “dozens” of lawmakers are planning to publish “coordinated” statements calling on the 81-year-old president to abandon his re-election bid.
Party leaders have reportedly asked former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for help in convincing Biden to step aside.Democratic sources told CNN.
The two heavyweights of the blue party elite have already held talks on the issue, but are unsure of how to proceed, the outlet noted.
At a press conference on Thursday, in the framework of the NATO summit that ended in Washington, Biden entrenched himself even more: he reiterated that he will continue with his campaign, denied having health problems or being weak and assured that even the leaders of the alliance have asked him to stay to beat Trump.
Despite his insistence, Two verbal lapses, one during an appearance with NATO and allied leaders and another in his first solo press conference since November, do not help to dispel doubts about his ability to govern for four more years, until he is 86 years old, if he wins the elections.
Biden first introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” and at the start of his press conference referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump.”
At this point in his presidency, Biden has held fewer press conferences than any president since Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.
According to a tally by the University of California at Santa Barbara, Biden has given 36 press conferences since arriving at the White House in January 2021, while Trump gave 88 in his four years in office.
*With information from EFE.
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