And they said that the election campaign was boring: the USA lived one of the most dramatic weeks in its history, with one presidential candidate narrowly escaping an assassination attempt, then the other announcing that he was leaving the race.
For months, Americans watched, without exactly much excitement, the process leading almost inevitably to a 2020 rematch between Republican Donald Trump, 78, and Democrat Joe Biden, 81.
Only Mr. Trump’s legal adventures seemed to upset the campaign. Facing four prosecutions, he was, much to his chagrin, forced to divide his days between courtrooms and campaign appearances before making history as the first former president to be convicted in a criminal trial.
Then, on July 13, things took a completely different turn.
At a rally of his supporters in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump had begun his speech, with his iconic red hat on his head.
Suddenly, explosions. Grimacing, he put a hand to his ear and fell, hiding behind the podium, amid screams of agony as Secret Service agents rushed at him to shield him with their bodies, to carry him to safety, not before the candidate addressed his fans with his fist raised and his face covered in blood shouting “Fight!”.
That day, the former president escaped with an ear wound from the gunfire of a twenty-year-old American, whose motive remains unknown.
He took on the aura of a miraculously saved man, almost a martyr. The fever of his followers doubled.
For Democrats, wracked by anxiety, the attempt looked like a gamble: was it the end of their bid to hold on to the presidency—or was it still possible to beat the Republican on Nov. 5?
They were already in low spirits after Joe Biden’s disastrous performance on June 27 in his first teleconference with his opponent. That night he seemed fragile, his gaze blank, his voice weak and hoarse, unable to express his thought in layers.
Since then, questions about his mental acuity, raised by the media, have dominated public debate.
While Donald Trump triumphantly named his vice presidential nominee on July 15 and then formally became his party’s nominee three days later, at the close of the Republican convention, Joe Biden was fighting trench battles, trying to fend off arrows by acquaintances.
Then, on July 17, news broke that the test he underwent for the new coronavirus came back positive and the presidential candidate had symptoms of COVID-19. Mr. Biden has suspended his campaign, self-isolating at his seaside cottage in Delaware. Fueling even more panic in his party.
While they were initially addressed by relatively unknown members of the party, increasingly big names gradually embraced the calls for him to withdraw: former President Barack Obama, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, other Democratic leaders moving behind the scenes, in the corridors, according to the press.
Publicly, the president continued to resist. He said it, he said it again: he was staying in the race and he intended to defeat Donald Trump.
But privately, according to anonymous American media sources, he did not hide his bitterness, because he was abandoned by his main allies, while he considered that he was the most suitable to face and win Mr. Trump, the one who promised to fight in 2020 for the “soul of America”.
Over the weekend, he and his family, holed up in Rehoboth Beach, were reportedly thinking about it.
The news that many expected and feared by some was announced in the afternoon via X.
USA: Biden’s announcement
In a letter published by the American president announced that, bowing to pressure, he had quit, in the “interest of the party and the country”, leading the campaign into uncharted waters.
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