President Joe Biden announced on Sunday that he intends to “stand down” as the Democratic Party candidate for president. Minutes later, Biden threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris to be the party’s nominee at next month’s Democratic Party convention in Chicago.

After several weeks of increasing pressure on Biden following his disastrous debate with Donald Trump in June – nearly all of it from his own allies in the Democratic Party – Biden finally caved in. Whether it was because of his terrible showing in nearly every poll since the debate, the drying-up of donations to the party, a conversation he had last week with party leaders including Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, his recent diagnosis with COVID – no small matter for an 81-year-old man – or a combination of all of it, we probably won’t know until even more leaks from inside the Biden White House and campaign emerge in coming days.

But Biden’s announcement turns a time of discord and distress for the Democratic Party into a time of opportunity and purpose. Democrats should seize the moment and rally behind the Vice President as our nominee and not wait until the formal nomination at the convention almost a month away. It’s too much time to waste, when the party needs to unify now and get on with the urgent business of running Donald Trump and his gaggle of discontents and fellow criminals into the river.

Joe Biden has taken the step so many have urged on him. We should thank him and unite, move forward, fight as a team, and beat Trump. That should be our mantra between now and the first week in November.

We have the time. We have the mission. The question is, can we put our differences aside and dismiss the circular firing squad and come together now, before the convention, and put together the kind of unified, powerful campaign that is necessary to beat Donald Trump?

If we don’t, every single one of us knows the price that will be paid not only by Democrats but by the entire nation. It’s up to us. No more squabbling. No more dissension. Organize. Donate. Get behind our party and our candidate and work to win.

Lucian K. Truscott IV, a graduate of West Point, has had a 50-year career as a journalist, novelist, and screenwriter. He has covered Watergate, the Stonewall riots, and wars in Lebanon, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He is also the author of five bestselling novels. You can subscribe to his daily columns at luciantruscott.substack.com and follow him on Twitter @LucianKTruscott and on Facebook at Lucian K. Truscott IV.