This week, Joe Biden threw his hat in the ring, declaring his candidacy for the presidency in 2024. Donald Trump’s hat was already in the ring, nailed to the floor — and, true to form, he’s ignored every logical reason to retrieve it.

The only good news is that the presidential election is still 19 months away, more than enough time for our two political parties to come to their senses. Stuck in their own bubbles, they probably won’t — but there’s also enough time for the electorate, and particularly the so-called silent majority, to make its views clear.

Absent one or two tectonic shifts, the American electorate is staring at a presidential race between two demonstrably unfit candidates. That’s not even a matter of conjecture — we’ve seen them both in action, in the seat they’re vying to win again in 2024, and our nation has the scars to prove it.

As of now, in one corner will be Joe Biden. His brand new campaign slogan — “let’s finish the job!” — is itself a scary thought, eerily disconnected from the damage already done. In two short years, the Biden administration has produced crippling inflation, a wide-open southern border, humiliation in Afghanistan, eruptions of violence and crime, pervasive societal disunity, confused children subjected to “gender-affirming surgery” (i.e., mutilation), and a world closer than ever to nuclear war.

Naturally, the Biden side insists that all is well, that the president is simply dealing with problems dumped in his lap by predecessor or circumstance and that he’s handling them successfully. Last week, for example, Biden claimed credit for reducing inflation, but the glaring fact is that inflation remains sky high, the Inflation Reduction Act is little more than a mislabeled bill, and he accepts no blame for lighting the inflation fire in the first place.

If all that isn’t scary enough, there’s the specter of electing the oldest president in U.S. history. Biden is a man who — long before the beginning of a possible second term — is already in visible decline. And backing him up is none other than Vice President Kamala Harris. Yikes.

Does anyone really want to continue down that track?

But in the other corner, we have Donald Trump. For all the raw talent, energy, and tenacity that many admire, he has demonstrated a chronic instability that is incompatible with the job of president. His rage over the rigged 2020 election (yes, rigged, even if not fraudulent) was justifiable, but his actions in response were not — and his total unwillingness to let it go, two years after the fact, is the stuff of a spoiled child’s temper tantrum.

Over the past two years, Trump has shown time and again that he cares more about personal retribution than about the country’s future. He is personally responsible for the disastrous Georgia runoff elections in both 2020 and 2022 that gave the Democrats the U.S. Senate majority twice in a row. He’s split the GOP in half and seems willing, if spurned by his party, to let that wedge sink the GOP prospects in 2024.

Trump supporters argue that now more than ever we need a proven street fighter, a wrecking ball, someone with the strength needed to pull our country back from the abyss. Good point — but of course meaningless if Trump runs and does not win, and disastrous if Trump leaves the race and takes a third of his party with him.

The Biden administration desperately wants Trump in the race because they are confident that the combination of his own bad behavior and the Trump hatred they have vigorously cultivated and propagated make him unelectable in a national election. It’s a good tactic, but a great disservice to the electorate.

In a column two weeks ago, I wrote, “Wouldn’t it be nice if each party put its best foot forward, selecting and promoting its best ideas and its best candidate?” So far, both parties seem dead set on just the opposite. I really didn’t expect Mr. Biden or Mr. Trump to read my column, but the underlying principle is quite simple and right in line with the way a democratic republic is supposed to work.

Potential Democrat candidates are understandably reluctant to challenge their sitting president. And on the GOP side, Trump has arrogantly threatened to refuse to participate in Republican primary debates because he holds a commanding lead — albeit, without a vote yet cast, in an election 19 months away.

It is important that both Republican and Democrat parties sponsor vigorous debates and primary elections. American voters must look past the self-nominated preeminent candidates and make their voices heard. Let the electorate choose the strongest of strong candidates, not the lesser of evils.