In 2020, “Let’s go Joe!” was the Biden presidential campaign’s clarion call as the Democrat successfully halted four years of Donald Trump chaos. Four years on, with a November rematch looming, the picture looks very different. After a faltering TV debate performance last week, panic is rising among Democrats that the 81-year-old Biden is no longer up to the challenge of defeating Trump again.
Should that slogan now be reframed as “Let’s go, Joe?” We look at the fallout from Biden’s disastrous showing and run the rule over possible alternative candidates, while Jonathan Freedland argues that it would best serve the US nation, not to say the wider world, if Biden were now to step aside.
The Weekly went to press before the outcome of a UK election that looks set to return the country’s first Labour prime minister since 2010. Catch up with all the latest on the Guardian’s General election 2024 site, and there’ll be much more reflection in the magazine next week.
In the meantime though, don’t miss Tim Adams’ poignant and angry lament in this week’s edition about the long, wasted years of Tory Britain.
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Five essential reads in this week’s edition
1
Spotlight | The end of Macron’s centrist project
In an increasingly divided France, Marine Le Pen’s far-right, anti-immigration party has cemented its steady rise, writes Angelique Chrisafis
2
Science | Lucy at 50: how the mother of humanity changed everything
In 1974, the fossilised bones of Lucy, a 3.2 million-year-old hominin, were discovered in Ethiopia. How has this remarkable skeleton disproved Darwinian theory? Robin McKie investigates
3
Feature | On your marks, get set, dope!
Would an Olympics-style tournament where everyone is on drugs put the honesty back in sport – or cause rifts, risks and addictions? By Adharanand Finn
4
Opinion | Journalist or not, Julian Assange changed journalism for ever
But the WikiLeaks founder did not foresee that lies, conspiracy theories and misinformation would ride the internet as easily as truth and transparency, writes Margaret Simons
5
Culture | Interview: Kevin Bacon
Hollywood’s great survivor f irst set hearts f luttering in the 1984 classic Footloose. Now 65, he’s back and tells Tom Lamont about money, marriage … and learning to live with himself
What else we’ve been reading
This year’s edition of Tour de France, the world’s greatest sporting challenge, started in Italy last weekend. Over the course of three weeks, the riders will cover nearly 3,500km and bring moments of joy, despair, outstanding teamwork and individual grit and brilliance. I’m following all the drama via the Guardian’s excellent minute by minute reports. Clare Horton, Assistant editor
Other highlights from the Guardian website
Audio | The enigma of Keir Starmer
Video | Dear Mamma: a transgender man, his mother and their journey in letters
Gallery | Arles festival of photography
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