Republicans and Democrats take opposite approaches to flawed candidates

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Which one of these candidates is facing calls from members of their own party to step aside in the presidential race:

► Is it the recently convicted felon, also indicted for election interference and mishandling classified documents, who was also found liable for sexual abuse and defamation as well as lying about his net worth to get loans tied to his massive real estate portfolio?

► Or is it the incumbent president with a recent record of accomplishment in a bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act, which is a dubiously named piece of legislation that nonetheless addressed many of his party’s priorities, like climate change?

Both men are well into retirement age. Both ramble through answers to questions when they bother to take them. Both mix up names. Neither took part in debates during a primary season in which they racked up wins.

And yet one of the men, former President Donald Trump, 78, has been able to remake the Republican Party around his own divisive persona. The other, President Joe Biden, 81, has now spent weeks defiantly defending his fitness for the job, slowly emerging from a protective bubble at the White House after a disastrous debate and spotty subsequent interviews.

The next week will offer a fresh look at what must feel like a cruel dichotomy to Biden supporters.

The GOP is now built around Trump

When the Republican National Convention gets underway Monday, it will show off a speaking schedule full of far right personalities and an official party platform rewritten and simplified around Trump’s priorities.

Trump, between now and then, will