July is here. The Independence Day holiday is already past. The election beckons in four months.

Donald Trump’s sentencing in a New York City courtroom had been set for later this week. Even as it is now delayed until September with the prosecution’s consent and following the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling of dubious implication. It often strikes me that Lady Justice could be replaced by a stylized tortoise as the symbol of our judicial system.

Trump will soon reveal his vice-presidential selection. His second-in-charge will also be known as the first sycophant. Perhaps the stage-managed announcement will feature the visual of Pence-era gallows as a not-so-subtle prod to keep the anointed one in line.

Then just a week from now, those Republicans with Trumpian fervor will encamp to Milwaukee for four days of showmanship known as their national convention. Imagine bright red, MAGA cheesehead toppers.

If the Chamber of Commerce gives Trump something less than the red-carpet treatment, it might reflect his slur last month, “Milwaukee, where we are having our convention, is a horrible city.” How endearing. In damage-control mode, he canceled plans to stay 92 miles away in Chicago at the Trump International Hotel.

Put it all together and there is a definite quickening of the political pace. The biggest piece of that is nothing referenced above, but the growing disconnect between the national shock of Joe Biden’s debate faceplant and the Alfred E. Neuman “What, me worry?” reaction of Biden’s White House and far too many establishment Democrats unwilling to rock the boat.

In Biden’s frailty and slowness, the presidential race has suddenly sped forward into new territory.

One widely-accepted explanation for why Biden agreed to, even pushed for, the unprecedented, early summer debate was so he could put to rest all the subterranean chatter as to whether he should step aside in advance of the Democrat’s August convention.

Hmmm…that didn’t quite work out. It was as if George Armstrong Custer arrived at the Little Bighorn muttering, “You’ve got to like these odds.”

What Americans witnessed from that Atlanta studio was stunning. This was not just a sub-par or off-night performance on the part of the nation’s chief executive. Starting with Biden’s hard-to-watch shuffle onto the stage and the very first question, the indelible image was that of a sad figure well past his moment.

In the history of televised presidential debates, this strange encounter was clearly the most consequential.

Trump that evening was quintessential Trump – smarmy, smug, immoral, evasive, denying the self-evident, blowing up the fact-checker on a minute-by-minute basis. There was very little surprising in his conduct though the CNN rules served to restrain his worst instincts.

But Trump was entirely secondary to the proceedings. When it mercifully came time for closing statements, had Trump been quicker on his feet, he would have ceded his two minutes to Biden to further dig his own political grave.

Let me be clear here: The shame in this matter, certainly on debate night, did not belong to Biden. There is no disgrace in aging. It happens to the best of us.

The shame rests with that retinue of toadies, handlers and enablers who knew full well of the President’s decline but were determined to prop him up and perpetuate the fiction of a leader still atop his game.

As time now passes since that fateful evening, the dishonor is growing to fast include broader elements of the Democratic Party who are unwilling to speak the plain truth out of some misplaced loyalty.

What has emerged from such types are two main lines of defense or rationalizations for inaction. First are those who weakly suggest that it wasn’t all that bad. We are told that the President had a cold; was over-prepared; doesn’t do well at that hour of the evening; even that he has “good days and bad days.”

The second argument is some mash-up of it is too late for Biden to exit and it would create too much chaos.

None of it washes. Nor can any of it ultimately prevail if Democrats are remotely serious and sincere about the existential stakes of this election for American democracy.

“Good days and bad days” does not cut it for the holder of the nuclear codes. Moreover, aging and fragility are progressive. Biden is not going to be sharper or more vigorous at age 83 or 86.

As to the political impact of what Americans witnessed, it defies human nature to contend that the impressions will not last or will be altered by subsequent events. This is one of those instances where what has been seen cannot be unseen.

Early post-debate polling shows Biden, already no better than an even-odds candidate, slipping to a five-point deficit. There is some indication that reliably blue states such as Virginia, New Hampshire and New Mexico are now up for grabs.

Hear this: If such states are even remotely in play, real swing states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona are long gone to Trump. And with them goes the election.

The presidential stakes are large enough, especially given the opponent and all the mischief he promises now shielded by a grant of immunity. But the Democratic Party’s agenda extends beyond that. They have ambitions to hold their Senate majority, a tough proposition even with a boost from the top of the ticket, and to take control of the House.

In the aftermath of this past week, no embattled Democrat can relish the prospect of battling not only the Republican machine but also the Biden drag. Colorado Rep. Yadira Caraveo, representing a quintessential swing district, put out some nothing-burger statement that the decision on Biden “is up to the voters.” Thank you, Madam Obvious. But in private candor, she has to be praying for a more compelling, energetic standard-bearer.

For sure, a Biden withdrawal in the coming few weeks will make for much unprecedented messiness. There is the Kamala Harris problem; so, too, the question of Gavin Newsom’s electability. Racial considerations, never far below the surface of Democratic politics, will be tricky.

But in that chaos and messiness is also opportunity to answer the pent-up demand for someone other than these two relics.

Further, what is unquestionably more tangled and unkempt than multiple convention ballots is a Trump return to the Oval Office with all the peril that holds.

The GOP long ago showed itself unable to stand up to its conquering hero. The spinelessness of those who know better has been a gross disservice and an unforgivable stain on many reputations. The coming few weeks will tell whether Democrats are much better when it comes to serving the national interest and speaking hard truth to entrenched power.

Joe Biden is a proud man at the end of his long political run. Four years ago, he performed historic service in evicting Trump from the halls of power. At the time, he promised to be a bridge to a newer generation of Democratic leadership.

The time for erecting that bridge has arrived. Biden has no other real course. It is increasingly likely he will be departing the White House next January. Will he do so with his legacy intact, turning over the reins to a younger, more able teammate? Or will he exit a withered man, handing the keys to his bitter rival whose very being runs contrary to every value Biden holds dear?

Decision time soon awaits, Mr. President.

Eric Sondermann is a Colorado-based independent political commentator. He writes regularly for ColoradoPolitics and the Gazette newspapers. Reach him at EWS@EricSondermann.com; follow him at @EricSondermann