![Members of the Supreme Court pose for a group photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, Friday, April 23, 2021. Seated from left are Associate Justice Samuel Alito, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer and Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, standing from left are Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch and Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett [Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/AP21113655420361.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Justice Stephen Breyer, the oldest serving US justice, is being urged to retire to make way for someone new.
![President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma in June 2020 [File: Sue Ogrocki/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/AP20181778049608.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
And it is down to the left to help the US shrug it off.
![Last month US President Joe Biden announced plans to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan by September 11 [File: Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/GettyImages-849100420.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Once American and NATO troops leave, it is the only realistic course of action.
![Protesters supporting Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021 [File: Win McNamee/Getty Images/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/1295889127.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
UNPACK THE PAST
How the far right got a stranglehold on the West
In the past, the rise of far-right ideology has surged ahead in Europe and the US in unison.
![In this January 20, 2021, file photo, President Joe Biden signs his first executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC. Six of Biden's 17 first-day executive orders dealt with immigration, such as halting work on a border wall in Mexico and lifting a travel ban on people from several predominantly Muslim countries [File: AP Photo/Evan Vucci]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/AP_21025799312888.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Democrats can knock out Trump’s support base if they win over Republicans on immigration – it may take a deal to do it.
![Circa 1905: Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), the 26th president of the United States (1901-09) sitting at his desk working [File: Hulton Archive/Getty Images]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/teddy-roosevelt.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
UNPACK THE PAST
Why does the US mythologise its former presidents?
No matter their shortcomings, former presidents have a way of still exerting influence. Will the same be true for Trump?
![The Democratic United States presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden, arrives to speak at a rally with former President Barack Obama in Flint, Michigan on October 31 [File: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AP_20305683112580.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Joe Biden’s campaign has mirrored his character, showing the calm, compassionate leader Americans need in this moment.
![Could the past - and, in particular, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's response to the Great Depression - offer an example of the type of leadership the US needs now? [Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images]](/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/201111151430655734_20.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Democrats and Republicans have shown a lack of vision and creativity in addressing the country’s many problems.
![United States Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden smiles while speaking during a round table on economic reopening with community members on June 11 in Philadelphia [AP Photo/Matt Slocum]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/c8b9a74b8fc141c2ac26f62094b4f3ab_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
The partisan divide is helping Joe Biden in terms of building coalitions and bringing in new voters.
![Joe Biden speaks about his 'Build Back Better' clean energy economic plan in Wilmington, Delaware on July 14 [Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/56b02f5e2f85422ba79033607df87a5f_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
But he will need a coalition of progressives and centrists to unite around it.