Opinion | Biden can stop Trump a second time by letting Kamala Harris run

But the new Trump was only a momentary invention that did not survive contact with his natural instincts. Surprisingly, he was not even entertaining. His acceptance speech, which doubled as a diatribe, revived all the doubts and fears about a Trump presidency, with its series of false attacks and penchant for self-centered victimhood.

By the end of the campaign, Democrats were back in power. But instead of seizing the opportunity, they found themselves in a state of anxiety, waiting—and deadlock. They need to stop dithering. Fresh starts don’t come often.

In the more than three weeks since Biden’s disastrous June 27 debate, Democratic leaders have tried to be as civil as possible. In fact, as I’ve seen in my own reporting, most of the lawmakers who now see his efforts as untenable were happy to support Biden before the debate. Despite Biden’s suspicions to the contrary, they really like him. They admire the extraordinary record they built together. They thought he could handle the campaign and the next four years.

The debate shattered that confidence, and it’s worth noting that holding an unusually early meeting was not the idea of ​​anyone outside of Biden’s campaign. The debate reflected a desire to shake up the race by shifting the focus to Trump. The fact that his advisers were eager to do so suggested that they knew the race needed shaking up. Unfortunately for Biden, he shook up the race in a way he never expected.

“At the beginning of the debate, Trump was seen as a risk to the country, and that’s still the case,” Peter Welch (D-Vt.), the first senator to call on Biden to step down, told me. “But by the end of the debate, many voters began to see Biden’s health as a risk to the country.”

And for all the debate about what the polls show and what they don’t show, it’s clear that Biden—who narrowly won five of the key swing states in 2020—is far behind where he was four years ago. No wonder so many vulnerable Democratic senators and members of the House are petrified and begging Biden to “pass the torch.” That snapshot, by the way, was a carefully chosen phrase, one House member told me, meant precisely to convey respect. It underscores that the president’s removal would not be a passive act of capitulation but an active decision by a man who could burnish his legacy by moving on.

It is possible to feel sadness and empathy for Biden, but also frustration. His candidacy, once a unifying force among Democrats, is now deeply dividing his party. His refusal to budge led two other senators and 10 other members of the House to call on him to step down on Friday. As the days go by, such statements will multiply. Those close to Biden should avoid stoking his resentments, even if some of them are understandable. Instead, they should steer him toward a path that promises gratitude, admiration, and respect.

Once Biden ends his candidacy, which now seems inevitable, Democrats will need to quickly agree on a new nominee — and a process to bring the party together. As Democrats, they are divided on both issues.

Many in the party, including black leaders but also other Biden loyalists, will be outraged if Biden is not quickly replaced by Vice President Harris. But others say an open, democratic process is needed to build trust in the party and its final choice.

They are both right. Choosing anyone other than Harris, who has already been carefully selected, would open the door to unrest that the party cannot afford. Abandoning the ticket three months before an election is not a good idea. But Democrats must secure Harris’ nomination through a process that the entire party will consider fair.

That would only strengthen Harris’ candidacy, as any strong candidate would. Governors Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Roy Cooper of North Carolina and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania are among the many interesting options she could choose.

It is not a question of psychology but of politics that the president must find a way to accept this result. None of this has anything to do with the past and the many times when others underestimated him. None of this reflects negatively on his record as president. He did not fail in this debate. His age failed him.

To save his legacy of success, he must defeat Trump. The Republican candidate has shown that this outcome is within his reach. It is not the path Biden hoped to follow, but it is within his power to stop Trump a second time.