“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen”, said Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, and so it was last week, starting with the attempted assassination of Donald Trump and ending with Joe Biden pulling out.

Biden’s decision was inevitable – the pressure had become too great, and even he couldn’t ignore the obvious fact that after the debate he had become unelectable.

His announcement means that the Democrat nominee will now be chosen at the convention that begins on August 19 rather than through the primaries, which he won.

And Biden’s endorsement of vice-president Kamala Harris means that it’s hers to lose.

She may even stand unopposed at the convention: one potential rival – Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has already dropped out.

So the question now is whether Kamala Harris is electable, or rather electable enough to defeat Donald Trump, who is almost as old and confused as Joe Biden.

Which is why the Republicans’ succession planning with the choice of 39-year-old millennial JD Vance, along with the party’s apparent discarding of neoliberalism, is so significant.

Trump won’t stand aside, but Americans who vote Republican will know they are also choosing their candidate for 2028, and given Trump’s own evident cognitive decline, Vance could well become president before then.

Harris is 59 and will be 60 when she is inaugurated next year, if she is nominated next month and then wins. Her likely running mate, transport secretary Peter Buttigieg, is three years older than Vance.

The 2024 US presidential election was always going to be a turning point for America and the world, but the sudden withdrawal of Joe........

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