Republicans give Trump a pass on accountability. Biden needs that from Democrats.

The dueling campaign emails that landed in my inbox back to back Monday afternoon captured the whipsaw essence of this ridiculous race.

"Joe Biden is dropping out of the race!" the email from former President Donald Trump's campaign declared. "You know it. I know it. Everybody knows it. It can happen at any moment."

President Joe Biden's campaign offered this counter-declaration from him in an email nine minutes later:

"Let me be clear: I'm running. I'm the Democratic Party's nominee. No one is pushing me out. I'm not leaving."

Both asked for donations that they said they need to beat the other guy. But Biden is also asking for something else from his supporters – the kind of pass Republicans give Trump and his troubled bid for a second term.

Will Democrats give Biden the same pass Republicans give Trump?

That's a tall order. I'm not so sure Biden catches that kind of a break from Democrats seriously freaked out by his disastrous debate performance, followed by days of limited, scripted appearances and then a 22-minute ABC News interview that did nothing to reset his campaign.

There's a reason for that, which probably seems unfair to many Democrats hoping Biden stays in the race. The Democratic Party these days holds its candidates far more accountable than the Republican Party does. Sorry, but politics has never been an endeavor rooted in a foundation of fair play.

You know who can change that approach to candidates? Democrats.

Biden fails in critical moment: Biden's attempt to save his campaign and presidency was too underwhelming for the moment

They're the only people with the power to give Biden the sort of pass that Republicans give Trump, an immensely popular candidate who in the past year has become a convicted felon, was held liable in a civil case for sexual assault and faces fines of $454 million for running a business rife with fraud.

But here's the catch: A crucial Democratic argument for giving Biden a second term plays into the understandable trepidation that a second Trump term invokes. Biden has been previously cast as competent and stable, the opposite of Trump's autocratic irascibility.

But if Democrats treat Biden the way Republicans treat Trump, looking past the president's very evident physical and mental issues, then drawing distinctions between the two candidates goes all fuzzy.

Remember when Hillary Clinton had pneumonia?

There's nothing new about this. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tried to keep quiet about the pneumonia she was suffering from in September 2016 while battling Trump for the White House. That went sideways when she was spotted nearly collapsing in public.

Clinton took all kinds of heat as Trump reveled in her brief medical crisis, claiming she lacked the stamina to be president and required "naps" on the campaign trail. His supporters ate that up.

Did they care eight years later when Trump had a hard time keeping his eyes open through his own criminal trial? They did not.

The closest Trump ever came to accountability was in October 2016, when the infamous Access Hollywood videotape leaked and voters heard the would-be president boasting about getting away with groping women. Some Republicans briefly suggested that Trump should drop his bid for the presidency. He flatly refused.

Sound familiar?

And why? Because Trump had already – correctly – claimed that there was a significant portion of the Republican Party that would never dare to hold him accountable for anything.

SCOTUS immunity ruling helps Biden: The Supreme Court just did Biden a huge favor by giving Trump immunity

Consider one of Trump's most memorable boasts in the 2016 election: "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters," Trump told supporters in Iowa that January.

Trump supporters have been consistent in their forgiveness

Trump isn't just forgiven for demolishing norms and standards in American politics. A big chunk of his supporters celebrate it. This very vocal minority of Americans revel in Trump's distaste for civility and disregard for anyone in pursuit of his ambition.

Trump showed up for the first debate in 2020 – in the middle of A pandemic – after a positive COVID-19 test but didn't share that publicly.

While hospitalized for COVID-19 treatment, Trump forced Secret Service agents to pile into the presidential limousine so they could drive around the block, letting him wave to assembled supporters.

Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store.

On Jan. 6, 2021, Trump sat sullenly in the White House, watching his supporters attack police officers during the riot at the U.S. Capitol. He spent hours shrugging off pleas from allies to intervene and stem the chaos.

Ask Trump supporters about all that, and they'll flip the accountability on anyone but Trump. They'll pivot to complain about efforts to contain the coronavirus and suggest the Capitol riot was some sort of setup.

Democrats will soon have to rally behind Biden, like it or not

And Democrats? Members of the U.S. House and Senate spent this week arguing in private and staking out positions in public. They all want to defeat Trump. Not all of them think Biden is up to that.

Biden has rejected calls to step aside, and Vice President Kamala Harris has shown no inkling – or political leverage – to push him off the ticket. The Democrats don't want a convention fight in Chicago next month, so they're stuck with Biden unless he upstages his debate debacle with another public calamity.

Biden has nearly 40 days until the Democratic Party makes the presidential nomination official and nearly four months until November's election. In a normal election year, that would look like plenty of time to right the ship.

Nothing about this election year is normal. The presumptive Republican nominee is a criminal campaigning on a promise of "retribution." The presumptive Democratic nominee is an incumbent fighting some in his own party for political survival.

Now we wait to see if Democrats can move like Republicans here. If Biden makes it to the convention and then to November's ballot, Democrats might have to load the gun, take him to Fifth Avenue, choose a target and hope his aim is true.

Follow USA TODAY elections columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan

You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden, Democrats need to focus to beat Trump: Election is almost here