The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog.

Four days in the halcyon setting of the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox were not enough to insulate us from the political sturm und drang that erupted this past weekend. I joined others in shock and horror at the shooting of Donald Trump, saddened that the violence following upon incendiary political rhetoric may have contributed to that grisly assault. Both Presidents have called for cooling the discourse, but such gestures may be short-lived.

Each has been guilty of raging rhetoric, but this is not a both-side-ism matter. For Trump, it’s his default way of communicating. Biden is sometimes overheated, but is not in Trump’s league. After being called out for urging Democrats to “put Trump in the bullseye,” he explained that his language was a mistake, that he just meant to focus on Trump, his actions, his policies, and the overwhelming number of lies he told in the debate. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard Trump admit he erred about anything, let alone go too far in his language.

Trump’s selection of J.D. Vance doesn’t reassure. In the aftermath of the shooting, Vance blamed it on Biden and the Democrats. Selecting Vance, a smarter and more articulate MAGA version of himself, Trump signals both fealty to his base and confidence about winning. A former Trump critic (calling Trump “America’s Hitler” and a phony populist), he is now a Trump acolyte with the thinnest government experience of a vice presidential nominee since Sarah Palin and Spiro Agnew. As demonstrated in his best seller “Hillbilly Elegy,” he is an authentic populist, risen from a background of poverty, family addiction and domestic abuse to become a venture capitalist, United States Senator, and now the Republican nominee for Vice President. His Yale Law School roommate told the BBC that Vance harbors a lot of unresolved anger issues and that, while some people seek therapy, others go into politics. Vance will likely be focused on Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin for the rest of the campaign, to chip away at Biden’s support.

So the Democrats have their work cut out. Biden denies there’s anything physically or cognitively wrong with him, despite visual images to the contrary. He has mangled the language for decades, and we need to remember that. But if he does have the beginning of Parkinson’s or early signs of dementia, as some doctors claim based on his debate performance and other gaffes, he needs to come clean. Biden insists that he is still the man for the job. The President has been looking more energized and feistier, especially when on a teleprompter, but there are always moments when he mumbles, confuses facts and his voice fades.

After his disastrous June 27 debate with Trump, we can’t unsee what we saw. The failure of Democrats to convince the President to defer to the next generation of leaders, as he implied he would do when he ran in 2020, reflects their inability to penetrate Biden’s inner circle, especially his wife and family. (No major party presidential candidate has dropped out in the midst of a campaign.)

Sadly, Biden may well be putting his own ego and his inner circle’s love of power ahead of the country’s interest. Certainly, he risks tarnishing his own legacy in the bargain. His default position has been to cite his accomplishments, which have been significant. But, until Tuesday’s speech to the NAACP, he had failed to articulate his vision for the future. He repeatedly overstates his position in the polls, and has sometimes been downright wrong. Eighty percent of America and 60 percent of Democrats don’t think Biden is up to fulfilling another four years. His approval rating is under 40 percent, lower than any modern President who has won reelection. Biden claims he beats Trump in the polls, or that polls don’t matter, but Trump has been consistently ahead in most of the important battleground states. Biden doesn’t acknowledge these numbers.

Both Fox and NBC have Trump ahead by three points nationally, just within the margin of error. The New York Times has Biden up by two points. This may look like a draw, but, over the last two decades, the Democrats who have won have been ahead in July by more than the margin of error. And to be only running even in the popular vote is a negative given the structural disadvantage in the electoral college.To make matters worse, knowledgeable observers claim Biden atop the ticket could cost Democrats the House, Senate and governorships. Four years ago, Biden was the change candidate. Today Trump is, and Biden is widely perceived as past his sell-by date.

Some pro-Biden insiders want to hold a virtual delegate vote within the next week to cement Biden as nominee. Others protest, saying that’s undemocratic and unfairly limits the search for alternatives. It’s hard to argue with those who say Kamala Harris has come into her own. She runs a little ahead of Trump in the polls, would have access to the millions of dollars available to the Biden-Harris team, and could be a worthy replacement, especially effective with the women who are so important among Independent voters. There are also moments when the old Joe Biden shines through, the guy who, at least for now, seems to be the guy who can get the job done. All these conflicting perspectives have degrees of validity, but it’s time to bring the internecine squabble to an end. Period. Hard Stop.