The nervous energy was palpable as hundreds of bike riders, shrink-wrapped in colorful Lycra outfits, waited for the start of the 50-mile Half-Century ride from the Santa Fe Railyard, a center for art galleries, restaurants and a weekly farmers’ market in Santa Fe, N.M. Then, at last, we were winding through town as eight police officers on motorcycles leapfrogged ahead to guard the intersections.

We rode past the Roundhouse, where the New Mexico Legislature meets. We passed Museum Hill, where four museums explore the Native American Southwest, the Spanish colonial past and more. Then, finally, after a dozen or so miles, Santa Fe was far behind us and we were on our own, riding through rolling ranch land.

It was the second day of a two-day biking event that each spring attracts more than 1,500 participants, who come for the companionship and the challenge to ride together through a high-desert landscape rich in history, art and Indigenous traditions. Of all those who had showed up for the Half-Century trek, I was the only one on a handcycle.

Handcycles allow riders to sit or lie on their backs, turn cranks with their hands and propel themselves with arm power instead of leg power. My handcycle, a lightweight Swedish model, was equipped with an electric assist motor — essential for people like me who can’t move their legs.

My arms were going to feel it

Twelve years ago, while leading a climb in Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California, I made a costly mistake and plunged 40 feet onto the unforgiving rock. The fall burst my spine and severed my spinal cord, leaving me a paraplegic.

What I discovered after my lengthy rehab was that of all the things I could no longer do, cycling was what I missed the most. Riding had been a big part of my life before my injury, ever since my parents gave me a three-speed Raleigh when I was 12. Later I cruised the coastal mountains of Southern California, belonged to a cycling club and even tried bike racing.

Handcycling was a way to experience the freedom and adventure that were missing from my life after the accident. It was very hard at first, but with the help of an e-assist motor, I found I could keep up with my able-bodied friends. Still needing to prove to myself that I could do a long ride, I signed up for the Half-Century.

The ride would take me through terrain that ranged from flat to hilly, before circling back to Santa Fe. My arms were going to feel it by the time I finished hours later.

‘On your left!’

I was cranking hard on the first miles of the ride, determined to conserve the e-assist battery for the bigger hills to come. I had been preparing for this ride for months, knowing that training arm muscles can improve power and strength on a handcycle. But they’ll never produce the power leg muscles can generate, according to Paul M. Gordon, chairman of the department of health, human performance and recreation at Baylor University in Wako, Texas, largely because of the difference in the amount of muscle mass.

But with e-assist to make up for that missing muscle power, riders with spinal cord injuries can keep pace with riders who use their legs to pedal. My three-wheeled cycle has an electric motor in the front wheel powered by a lithium battery behind my seat. Power is only added when I turn the cranks, and a switch lets me adjust the amount of assistance.

But I wasn’t ready to turn up the battery power yet, even when the faster riders passed me. I resisted the competitive urge to chase them down as we cruised past horse ranches, an old graveyard and churches that reflect the Spanish history of New Mexico.

The long line of cyclists snaked along Highway 14, the Turquoise Trail, a scenic byway between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, named after the rich history of turquoise mining in the area. Windmills turned slowly, pumping water for the cattle that dotted the pinyon and juniper woodlands.

After about 22 miles, I stopped to wolf down peanut butter sandwiches and gulp Gatorade at a food stop staffed by friendly volunteers. Then we rode on, passing signs for a pottery studio and craft breweries. This area, including the village of Galisteo, has long been a favorite of artists, attracted by the high-desert light and the intersection of Spanish, Native American and Anglo cultures.

We headed past the turnoff to the Lamy rail station — where 80 years ago physicists disembarked from a train from the East and headed for Los Alamos to help Robert Oppenheimer build the first atomic bomb. At this point, like a Tesla driver a long way from home, I had range anxiety and was keeping an eye on my battery. I had used up about half of its power.

Spring is typically the windiest season in New Mexico. Today was no different, and we now rode into a headwind. My arms were cranking hard, and I decided it was time to increase the e-assist to make up for the added work.

I started passing other riders, feeling more confident, knowing that I had enough battery power to help me up the hills. Still, my arms got tired on the uphills, though they recovered as we coasted on the downhills. “On your left!” I yelled to the other riders as I whizzed past them.

Handcycling as therapy

Five years ago, I gave handcycling a try at Craig Hospital near Denver, where Tom Carr is the director of therapeutic recreation. Handcycling is a major tool in Craig’s rehabilitation program, which specializes in helping those with spinal cord or traumatic brain injuries.

“We can get people with a spinal cord injury on a handcycle and be safe and successful very early in their stay,” Mr. Carr said. “To have the wind in your hair is something that patients don’t know that they will ever get back again.” He added that he had become a huge proponent of e-assist, “especially for those getting into it for the first time.”

But handcycles aren’t cheap. They can cost $10,000 to $15,000 or more. Fortunately, people with spinal cord injuries or medical conditions that keep them from riding a conventional two-wheeled bike can try one out before buying. For example, Bike-On, a bike shop in Rhode Island specializing in handcycles, provides tryout clinics at various locations around the country. And the Vermont-based Kelly Brush Foundation, founded by an athlete injured in a skiing accident, provides grants to help with the cost of adaptive sports equipment. Its website has links to organizations around the United States that provide handcycling experiences.

An adventure completed

We were nearing the end of the ride, and as much as I had enjoyed the camaraderie of the group, after three and a half hours of cranking, I was ready for my biking adventure to be over. My arms were tired. My battery was running down. Still, I knew I was going to make it to the end.

The last miles of the ride followed the Old Pecos Trail and parts of the original Route 66 through the crooked streets of old Santa Fe. Long before European settlers arrived, the trail served as a route for trade between the Pueblo, Apache and Comanche tribes. Now it leads past some of the fine hotels, restaurants and art galleries that make Santa Fe a prime tourist destination. I cycled on, nearing my goal.

Then, at last, I was back in the Railyard district, and a volunteer was handing me a finisher’s medal on a ribbon. I accepted it, happy, tired, proud. I had felt the wind in my hair and recaptured that feeling of accomplishment that goes with completing a long bike ride, even though my legs no longer moved.

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Boeing’s announcement on Sunday that it had agreed to plead guilty to a federal criminal charge as part of a deal with the Justice Department was the culmination of a yearslong crisis involving the company’s 737 Max plane.

The agreement may help Boeing put to rest a federal case stemming from two fatal crashes of the 737 Max in 2018 and 2019. But the deal is not the final word on that saga and may have little impact on other problems, including questions about the company’s production quality that were brought to light when a panel blew out of a Max jet during a January flight.

Here’s what else to know about Boeing’s deal with federal prosecutors and other challenges the company is dealing with.

What is expected to happen next?

Boeing and the Justice Department first reached an agreement in 2021 about the two crashes that allowed the company to avoid criminal charges. But federal prosecutors this year said that the company had violated the terms of that agreement and came up with a new one, which was agreed to in principle on Sunday.

Under the latest agreement, Boeing would plead guilty to conspiring to defraud the federal government. The company would also agree to an independent monitor, three years of probation and additional financial penalties. That includes a $487.2 million fine, half of which could be forgiven because of Boeing’s earlier fine payments.

But the arrangement is not yet official.

“Sometimes people hear that there’s been a plea agreement and think that things are finalized, but that’s not necessarily true,” said Kya M. Henley, a lawyer specializing in white collar crime and former public defender.

A formal agreement is expected to be filed in a federal court in the coming days and the judge overseeing the case will then review the deal, which many of the families of the people who died on the two crashes strongly oppose.

If the judge sides with the families, Boeing and the Justice Department will have to come up with a new deal.

Otherwise, a monitor will be chosen by an independent committee, with the final decision made by the deputy attorney general, Lisa Monaco. The Justice Department has said it would solicit the names of candidates for the job from the public and consider feedback from Boeing.

Why are the families unhappy and what can they do?

The families have said they remain deeply disappointed with the way the Justice Department handled the case against Boeing. Despite getting the company to plead guilty to a criminal charge, prosecutors failed to hold the company or executives accountable for the deaths of the 346 people in the two crashes, lawyers for the families said.

“We don’t think the deal is adequate,” said Erin Applebaum, a lawyer who represents 34 of the families who lost loved ones in the second crash, in Ethiopia. “We don’t think that it properly addresses the root cause of the problems at Boeing.”

Ms. Applebaum said that the only way to enact meaningful change at Boeing would be to take action that affects its bottom line, which would mean imposing larger fines and more severe consequences. She also criticized the decision to consider public proposals for the independent monitor as “nothing but lip service,” noting that the Justice Department would have final say in the decision.

For now, the families hope to convince the judge to reject the deal, arguing that it would not enhance public safety. Separately, trials in a handful of civil cases filed against Boeing by some of the families are scheduled to begin later this year.

Who will be the monitor and what will they do?

The Justice Department will appoint an independent compliance monitor as part of the terms of Boeing’s three-year probation. That person, who will be vested with the powers of a probation officer, will submit annual reports to the government and ensure that the company complies with safety measures.

The monitor’s reports might suggest changes to the company’s production process or quality control. Similar monitors have been placed at other companies like Apple and Deutsche Bank as part of settlements with federal prosecutors.

It’s still unclear who the government will nominate for the role. The monitor in this case is likely to be an aviation expert.

“Nobody wants a free-roving monitor looking at their files,” said John C. Coffee, a law professor at Columbia University focused on corporate governance. “That’s why there’s likely to be a great deal of sensitivity to who the person is.”

The scope of the monitor’s authority will come down to the fine print of the final agreement. A few important questions remain unresolved, such as whether the monitor can go directly to the judge with his or her findings and whether the judge can impose a penalty in response. Those should be addressed in the final terms, Mr. Coffee said.

Veronica Root Martinez, a law professor at Duke University who studies corporate misconduct and compliance, said there would almost certainly be court oversight of the monitorship since it stemmed from a guilty plea, with reports publicly filed on the court’s docket. The monitor is likely to have a relationship with insiders at the company to draft recommendations and ensure compliance with the plea deal.

“It’s not necessarily just someone passively watching,” Ms. Martinez said.

Are there other consequences to Boeing for pleading guilty?

The guilty plea puts Boeing’s lucrative government contracts at risk. A company convicted of certain felonies can’t get government contracts without obtaining a waiver. Boeing is in talks with the Pentagon about the fate of those government contracts, according to a person familiar with the matter.

A disruption in Boeing’s defense and space business could be catastrophic to the company’s business, said Loren Thompson, a longtime aerospace analyst. Contracts with the government bring in more than a third of the company’s revenue.

Mr. Thompson said Boeing’s defense business has declined over the decades as other manufacturers made gains. “Any further impediment to booking new defense business will be very detrimental to the company’s portfolio of products,” he said.

It was not immediately clear whether the plea deal would have any impact on a separate investigation into the January fight, operated by Alaska Airlines, in which a panel blew off a Max jet. The F.B.I., which is investigating the incident, declined to comment.

Every year is an Olympics year in Lausanne, Switzerland, a city of stone buildings, tile roofs and historic church squares perched on a hillside overlooking Lake Geneva. As home to the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Museum, the city is involved year-round in championing the Games, long before and long after the official ceremonies take place. (This year, the Summer Olympics and Paralympics, mostly in and around Paris, run from July 26 to Sept. 8.)

But the Olympics are only one facet of Lausanne. In the city center, culture-loving visitors will find a new arts district that contains a trio of avant-garde exhibition spaces, while the Hermitage Foundation museum is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Throw in stylish new restaurants, chocolate boutiques and pastry shops, and you have a medal-worthy culinary center, as well.

Games: History and traditions on display

Long before the global fame of gold medalists like the Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci and the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, the ancient Greek runner Astylos of Croton was the top Olympic celebrity, thanks to victories in three consecutive editions of the Games, from 488 to 480 B.C. Even more impressive, he did it naked and barefoot (as was then the custom for runners).

His is just one of the remarkable stories recounted in the Olympic Museum (tickets, 20 Swiss francs, or about $22). From ancient vases to interactive touch screens, the exhibitions trace the history of the world’s most storied sports competition, starting with its Hellenic origins and ending with this year’s Paris Games, the subject of a special exhibition, “Paris Olympique.”

Along the way, displays delve into the finer points of stadium architecture, uniform fashions, opening ceremony performances, antidoping technology and even cafeteria menus in the Olympic villages. Equipment and outfits belonging to noted Olympians are also on view, including a handmade track shoe worn by the American athlete Jesse Owens at the notorious 1936 Berlin Games in Nazi Germany. (The cobbler was Adi Dassler, who later created the Adidas brand.)

An outdoor track and indoor interactive simulators allow you to test your own skills at everything from sprinting to slalom skiing. And if you happen to be in Lausanne during the Olympics, an outdoor giant-screen TV on the museum grounds will broadcast the Games live from Paris.

Also on the museum grounds, the free Olympic Park is open year-round. The vast green expanse offers spectacular views of Lake Geneva and is dotted with 43 sports-themed sculptures and installations by international artists such as Fernando Botero and Alexander Calder. Among the works is a statue of Baron Pierre de Coubertin — a French aristocrat who was central to reviving the Olympics in the modern era.

Museums: Man Ray, Monet and more

Alongside the train station, Lausanne’s new cultural district, Plateforme 10, celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Surrealist Manifesto — a series of 1924 publications whose authors include the French artist André Breton — with multiple exhibits devoted to that celebrated literary and artistic movement.

Pioneering works by Breton and his peers form the core of “Surréalisme. Le Grand Jeu,” an extensive exhibition of Surrealist works, historical and contemporary, at the Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts (through Aug. 25). The works are as strange and dreamlike as one would hope. A sculptural birdcage filled with sugar cubes, called “Why Not Sneeze, Rose Sélavy?” (Marcel Duchamp, 1921). A shimmery canvas depicting elephants whose reflections become swans in a mystical lake (Salvador Dalí’s “Cygnes Se Reflétant en Éléphants,” 1937). A photograph of a woman with instrumental sound holes painted on her back (“Le Violon d’Ingres,” by Man Ray, 1924). And much more.

Man Ray is the subject of a solo show (“Man Ray: Liberating Photography,” through Aug. 4) across the plaza at the Photo Elysée museum, which occupies a jagged white cube resembling a futuristic iceberg. His stylized portraits — Picasso in his studio, Gertrude Stein in a smoking jacket, Igor Stravinsky looking bewildered — capture the cultural ferment of 1920s Paris, while hallucinogenic avant-garde films like “Return to Reason” (1923) represent groundbreaking visions for the then-new medium.

In the same building, the MUDAC design museum hosts “Objects of Desire,” an exhibition of furniture and household objects inspired by Surrealism (through Aug. 4): a lips-shaped couch (by Studio 65), a life-size black plastic horse with a lampshade on its head (by Moooi), a teapot shaped like a pig’s skull (by Studio Wieki Somers). A ticket for entrance to all three museums is 25 francs.

Another commemorative show — celebrating the 150th anniversary of the first Impressionist exhibition, in 1874 — fills the aristocratic 19th-century rooms of the Hermitage Foundation, a lovely manor with manicured gardens and commanding views of Lake Geneva. Entitled “Masterpieces From the Langmatt Museum” (June 28 to Nov. 11), the exhibition rewards visitors with some 60 paintings — Renoir landscapes, Degas nudes and works by Matisse, Monet, Cézanne, Mary Cassatt and others — lent from the Langmatt, in Baden, Switzerland (currently closed for renovations), which is known for its excellent collection of Impressionist works. Admission 22 francs.

Food and drink: Lausanne goes locavore

Already home to the Noz Chocolatier boutique and the Hotel Swiss Chocolate by Fassbind, Rue Marterey last year added Acarré, a bakery and chocolate shop where the pastry chef Arnaud Dousse, a veteran of top Swiss hotels, makes finely wrought croissants (1.90 francs), pains au chocolat, lemon cakes and other baked goods, along with myriad chocolates. Opening most days at 6:30 a.m., the shop makes an ideal spot for a to-go breakfast.

Last year was an excellent vintage for restaurants, too. Breaking with longstanding tradition, the soaring Scandinavian-style private lunchroom of the regional parliament, La Buvette Vaudoise, opened to the public, allowing people who aren’t elected officials to savor the restaurant’s traditional Swiss dishes, from its award-winning crispy cheese puff (known as a Malakoff; 9 francs) to thick slabs of grilled trout in a cream sauce flavored with Chasselas white wine (25 francs). The lunch-only restaurant procures most of its ingredients from the surrounding Vaud region and serves several wines produced on estates owned by legislators.

The latest dinner hot spots are equally devoted to Swiss sourcing. Decorated in an eclectic, upscale vintage style, L’Appart feels like the sprawling home of a fun designer friend, with a closet — yes, literally a closet — full of wine bottles. (Guests poke around inside to choose their wine.) The chef Luis Zuzarte’s menu, notable for its lengthy list of local suppliers, might include crispy roasted Sbrinz cheese with garlic mayo and pickles, or juicy-meaty pulled pork smoked over hay. Four courses (Tuesday and Wednesday only) are 85 francs; seven courses (nightly) cost 145 francs.

Japanese flavors infuse the dishes at Jajaffe, an airy, minimalist year-old restaurant with an easygoing vibe and tattooed chefs. Old-school vinyl albums provide the soundtrack as young waiters deliver beguiling Japanese-Swiss mash-ups that have recently included whipped sunflower-infused cream topped with disks of Tokyo turnip and karasumi (dried fish roe) as well as raw chunks of red gurnard fish in mayonnaise flavored with Swiss-made sake. Set menus cost 75 francs (four courses) and 110 francs (seven courses).

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A new fee for Venice day trippers. A looming ban on vacation rentals in Barcelona. Restrictions on the sale of alcohol in Majorca. At a time when overwhelmed European destinations are slapping tourists with restrictions and fees, Copenhagen is trying a different approach: rewarding visitors who act responsibly.

Beginning July 15, tourists who demonstrate climate-friendly travel behavior by participating in the city’s green initiatives — including cycling, train travel and clean-up efforts — will be granted access to museum tours, kayak rentals, free meals and more.

“We must turn tourism from being an environmental burden into a force for positive change,” said Mikkel Aarø-Hansen, the chief executive of Wonderful Copenhagen, the tourism organization for the Capital Region of Denmark. An important step in this transformation, he said, “is to change how we move around on the destination, what we consume, and how we interact with the locals.”

On average, 81 percent of consumers say they want to act more sustainably, but only 22 percent have changed their behavior, according to a 2023 sustainable report by Kanter, a London-based market research group. Copenhagen’s new initiative, CopenPay, aims to bridge the gap between the desire to act sustainably and actual behavior by making climate-friendly action a currency for cultural experiences.

For instance, those who arrive by bike or train at CopenHill, an artificial ski slope built on top of a new waste-management center, will be able to go down the rooftop hill for free. Other sites will allow visitors to volunteer in cleanup efforts. The National Gallery of Denmark will hold workshops to turn plastic waste into pieces of art, while the Copenhagen Surf School will offer a free lunch to surfers who take part in 30 minutes of beach cleaning after their surf course. More than 20 attractions will be participating in the pilot program over the summer.

“Our vision with CopenPay is to create a ripple effect,” Mr. Hansen said. “We hope that by showcasing the success of this and other initiatives, other cities around the globe will be inspired to find their way to incentivize more sustainable tourism behavior, ultimately leading to a more sustainable future for everyone.”

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Boeing agreed on Sunday to plead guilty to a felony charge of conspiring to defraud the federal government over two fatal crashes of the 737 Max in 2018 and 2019, according to a late-night court filing.

In the deal with the department, outlined in part in the court filing, Boeing also agreed to pay a $487.2 million fine — the maximum allowed by law — and invest at least $455 million over the next three years to strengthen its compliance and safety programs.

The company will be put on probation, supervised by the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas, for three years. As part of the probation, the Justice Department will appoint an independent compliance monitor who will make sure that safety measures are in place and followed, submitting annual reports to the government. The company will face additional penalties if any of the terms are violated. The company’s board of directors will also be required to meet with crash victims’ families.

The decision by Boeing to plead guilty is significant because the company has not been convicted of a federal felony in decades. In the filing, the department described the charge of conspiring to defraud the federal government as “the most serious readily provable offense.”

The deal reached on Sunday stems from violations of an agreement that Boeing had reached with the Justice Department in 2021 that it would make significant safety changes after the two deadly crashes. The department, during the Biden administration, has made it a priority to ensure that companies like Boeing follow through on such agreements.

The department and Boeing made a joint filing on Sunday night, notifying the District Court that they had agreed in principle. In the next week or so, the formal agreement will be filed. The court will then set a hearing for the company to formally enter its guilty plea. Victims’ families will be able to speak during that hearing.

Families of the victims, who were briefed a week ago on the general outlines of the deal, had said it did not go far enough. Paul G. Cassell, a lawyer for more than a dozen of the families, said the families had sought an admission of fault in the deaths of 346 people who were killed in the crashes, which involved Boeing’s troubled 737 Max plane in Indonesia and Ethiopia in late 2018 and early 2019. The families had hoped for stiffer consequences for the company and its executives, including a trial.

The Justice Department acknowledged the families’ position in its court filing on Sunday. In a separate document, the families said they will object to the deal and “intend to argue that the plea deal with Boeing unfairly makes concessions to Boeing that other criminal defendants would never receive and fails to hold Boeing accountable for the deaths of 346 persons.”

Mr. Cassell said the government’s agreement with Boeing is “clearly not in the public interest.”

“This sweetheart deal fails to recognize that because of Boeing’s conspiracy, 346 people died,” Mr. Cassell said. “Through crafty lawyering between Boeing and D.O.J., the deadly consequences of Boeing’s crime are being hidden.”

Boeing’s decision to plead guilty does not provide immunity to any employees or corporate executives. And the deal does not protect it from charges that might come from other investigations, including one into a Jan. 5 episode on Alaska Airlines in which a panel blew off a Boeing 737 Max jet soon after the plane took off from the airport serving Portland, Ore. Though the blowout did not cause any major injuries, the incident could have been catastrophic had it happened minutes later when the plane had reached cruising altitude and flight attendants and passengers were moving around the cabin.

A Boeing spokeswoman confirmed that the company reached an agreement with the Justice Department, but declined to comment further.

The deal updates a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement, reached in the last days of the Trump administration, that allowed Boeing to avoid criminal charges in the two deadly crashes. The company has already paid $500 million in restitution to the families of the victims and $243.6 million in fines.

Boeing’s 2021 settlement required that the company not engage in wrongdoing over a three-year period. In May, the Justice Department said Boeing broke the agreement because the company failed to “design, implement and enforce” an ethics and compliance program into its operation to prevent and detect violations of U.S. fraud laws.

As part of the 2021 agreement, the Justice Department said Boeing would have to pay only $243.6 million more if the company was in violation. But a judge will ultimately decide whether the 2021 payment counts toward the total fine, a Justice Department official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the deal. The judge will also decide on how much more restitution should be paid during sentencing.

The 2021 charge focused on two Boeing employees who were accused of withholding information from the Federal Aviation Administration about changes Boeing had made to flight control software that was implicated in both crashes.

According to that settlement, in addition to the fines and restitution to the victims’ families, Boeing paid more than $1.7 billion to its customers because they could not take deliveries of the 737 Max jets during a 20-month global ban on the jet.

All told, Boeing has spent about $20 billion because of the crashes, including fines, payments to families, reimbursements to airlines and other costs stemming from a nearly two-year grounding of the 737 Max by the F.A.A.

The Justice Department has faced competing pressures over how to punish the already struggling Boeing, one of the biggest U.S. exporters and a large employer among the government’s top defense contractors. In 2023, nearly 40 percent of the company’s revenue came from contracts with the U.S. government.

While the complete details of the deal were not included in the public court filing on Sunday, Boeing is likely to obtain assurances from the government that a felony conviction will not hinder its government contracts, reducing the impact of the charge on the company’s operations, said Mark Lindquist, a lawyer for the families of victims of the Max 8 crashes who now represents passengers on the Alaska Airlines flight. Those exemptions would be independent of the plea deal, he said.

“While many of us would have preferred a more vigorous prosecution, a guilty plea to a felony is a serious step up in accountability,” Mr. Lindquist said.

Joe Biden refuses to drop out of the presidential race even as some liberals, rattled by the incumbent’s frightening debate performance last week, keep pressuring him to do so.

Who’s surprised by that?

The inertia of a presidential campaign is one of the most powerful forces in politics. Ending one after a party’s nomination has been secured is almost unfathomable. The candidate is already strapped to the rocket.

Furthermore, all serious presidential contenders, particularly those who hold or have already held the office — this year, we have both — have a God complex. They must. And doubt doesn’t exist in the presence of God. There are throngs of advisers, boosters and confidants around Biden to keep that doubt at bay; to introduce it is blasphemy.

Biden can’t be forced out of the race; he would have to be persuaded to leave it. And that eventuality, while not impossible, lives next door to “Never!”

And Biden staying the course may be the best course.

The American University historian Allan Lichtman, a prescient predictor of presidential election results, told me on Sunday that pushing Biden out of the race would be a “tragic mistake for the Democrats,” because he believes that the president remains his party’s best chance at winning the election.

As for the alternatives, Lichtman adds, “It’s not as if there’s some, you know, J.F.K. out there just waiting to jump on the white horse and save the Democratic Party.”

I agree with him: There are no potential replacements that would stand a better chance of defeating Donald Trump than Biden.

Yes, a CNN-SSRS poll conducted in the days after the debate found that Vice President Kamala Harris performed slightly better than Biden against Trump, within the margin of error but still trailing. (But note that a brand-new Reuters-Ipsos poll found that only one-third of Democrats think Biden should exit.)

If Biden were replaced, yes, Harris would be Democrats’ safest option. But approval ratings and standings in one poll before she becomes the actual candidate could be a bit of a mirage.

During stretches of Hillary Clinton’s time in the Senate and her tenure as secretary of State she enjoyed solid approval ratings, but when she ran for president against Trump, her approval numbers gradually diminished.

There were lots of reasons for this, and one of them, I am convinced, is the patriarchal nature of our society. That would likely be revisited for Harris, only this time amplified by patriarchy’s twin evil: racism.

Harris is competent and capable, regardless of what her needling detractors suggest, but unfortunately, I do not believe that she is more electable than Biden in the current climate.

Yet if Biden did stand aside and Harris was passed over in favor of another candidate, there would very likely be strong protest from her legions of Democratic supporters, many of them Black women, a voting bloc that is essential to a Democratic victory.

On top of that, a free-for-all selection process would be sheer chaos. Factions would fiercely compete, egos would be bruised and convention delegates would select a candidate, effectively bypassing direct participation by Democratic voters.

This would all play out just a few months before Election Day, and opposition researchers would have a field day vetting the list of probable Democratic alternatives, several of whom are governors with only regional name recognition, increasing the possibility of a devastating October surprise.

To be clear: I’m not saying that Biden should continue to run because an eventual victory is assured. It isn’t. He was struggling before the debate kerfuffle and will continue to struggle if he survives it.

Trump’s support has gelled while Biden’s has frayed. Many Americans haven’t felt the benefits of what is a structurally sound Biden economy, and the young, activist portion of the Democratic base is angry about Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza.

I, like many others, wish Biden hadn’t sought a second term. I wish that the Democratic nominee was a young visionary with verve.

But retrospective wishing is worthless.

Biden is the Democratic candidate. He’s the only person standing between us and Trump’s destructive, retributive impulses and the ever-increasing latitude that the Supreme Court has granted him.

The fact that an 81-year-old is increasingly showing signs of being an 81-year-old doesn’t panic me; what Trump has signaled he’ll do with another term does.

There’s another way that calls for Biden’s withdrawal could backfire on liberals. One of my favorite TV lines comes from Omar on “The Wire,” paraphrasing Emerson: “You come at the king, you best not miss.” A failed attempt to usurp a man in power risks his vengeance.

But I’ve been thinking of that line in another way as it relates to Biden. By building a case for Biden’s incapacity and his need for capitulation — without convincing him of the same — liberals risk further wounding their standard-bearer and increasing the probability of the thing they most desperately seek to avoid: Trump’s re-election.

And if Biden should decide to leave the race, as The Times reported on Wednesday that he is considering, his withdrawal would only add credence to the idea that some Democrats had, in effect, conspired to conceal a disqualifying impairment and only changed course when forced. The taint of this would linger over the party and any replacement candidate.

Instead of clearing the way for victory, liberals may well be paving the way for defeat.