Friday Briefing

Donald Trump gave a speech in Milwaukee accepting the Republican presidential nomination, as screens showed images from the attempt on his life last weekend.Credit…Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

A ‘roller coaster’ presidential race

The U.S. presidential race has reached a pivotal moment. Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican nomination last night in an arena packed with supporters. His opponent, President Biden, is currently isolating with Covid-19 and, according to people in his inner circle, wrestling with whether to drop out of the race.

In his first speech since surviving an assassination attempt last weekend, Trump gave a cinematic account of the shooting, describing the experience in vivid detail and vowing never to tell the story again. “I felt very safe because I had God on my side,” he said to cheers from people in the crowd, some of whom were in tears. Read a recap of his speech.

Jess Bidgood, who writes our On Politics newsletter, gave us the latest analysis from Milwaukee.

It’s been a wild ride this week. Where do you think the race stands now?

Up until Biden’s bad debate performance about three weeks ago, it was a fairly steady race between two familiar candidates. Now, after weeks of Democrats wringing their hands and an assassination attempt against Trump, I think American voters suddenly feel like they’re on a roller coaster.

What’s happening to Biden’s campaign?

Biden has sought to demonstrate his fitness with campaign events, interviews and a news conference, but he hasn’t been able to tamp down his party’s concerns. In 2020, the reason the Democrats picked him was because they saw him as electable; they saw him as somebody who could beat Trump. As he slips behind Trump in the states he needs to win, that electability argument has seemingly vanished.

There has been a lot of speculation in recent weeks about which Democrats might be interested in stepping into Biden’s place. The most straightforward option is Vice President Kamala Harris, but there is also a pretty deep bench of talented Democratic governors.