If he has the strength and wisdom to step aside, the Democrats will have two months to choose another candidate.

Follow this authorDavid Ignatius's opinions

Biden’s main reason for running again was that he felt, in his gut, that he could win. He loathes Trump — you could see the contempt animating that otherwise-frail demeanor Thursday — and it’s been his political mission to stop Trump and his MAGA rebellion. He did it twice, in the 2020 election and the 2022 midterms, and he thought he could do it again. Most important, he believed there was no one who could do it better.

Biden might have considered withdrawing if Vice President Harris was more popular than he was — running 10 points ahead of him in polls, say. But Harris hasn’t gained traction as vice president, and Biden knows it. Some say Biden deliberately sidelined Harris; I think her shortcomings reflect her own political weakness. But the fact is that Biden had no obvious heir.

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Perhaps paradoxically, Biden might also have stepped aside if Trump hadn’t run. He could have said he had achieved his political quest of vanquishing Trump — and opened the way for a younger generation of leaders. But Trump’s successful primary campaign almost guaranteed that Biden would stay in.

Biden’s family has played a central role, especially his wife, Jill. When my column appeared last September, I was told by people who know the Bidens well that the president was angry but that the first lady was irate. She’s his protector and advocate — always. His children, Hunter and Ashley, would probably have been comfortable with him stepping aside. But even after Thursday night’s performance, you could see Jill Biden onstage at a “victory” party clapping and leading a chant, “Four more years!”

Loyalty is admirable, except when it disserves people we love. President Lyndon B. Johnson’s wife, Lady Bird, knew the strains he was suffering in office and his fragile health. She talked with him about not seeking another term as he was being inaugurated in 1965, and he confided to her in 1967 that he had decided against running the next year, though he kept waffling until his announcement in March 1968.

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Biden’s inner circle of aides has also been protective — to a fault. Biden is a stubborn and sometimes-irascible man. He has maintained a remarkably disciplined White House, with few leaks and minimal backbiting. But loyalty and discipline can come at a cost. In the days after my column argued that he should step away, I heard rumblings of agreement among insiders, but they were quickly squelched. Discipline........

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