Kamala Harris needs to be installed as President now so she can fight Donald Trump as an equal, writes JUSTIN WEBB

“Bring it on!” is the Republicans’ response to the almost certain chance that Kamala Harris will be their opponent in November.

They think she’s a joke. “Cackling Kamala,” as Trump calls her, is the star of a thousand internet memes in which she looks awkward, talks strangely and is out of her element – not unlike her predecessor.

Earlier this month, Trump was caught on camera talking to the vice president. He was as brutal as you might expect: “She’s so bad,” he said, “she’s pathetic.”

Trump will destroy her, the Grand Old Party (GOP) believes. And they know that if the Democrats seriously thought she could succeed, the party would have already supported her.

But what if the Republicans have it all wrong? What if Trump makes a grave error by underestimating Kamala’s strengths and assuming he is on track to win in November?

Indeed, there are plenty of Democrats who quietly hope — and perhaps half believe — that Kamala has the power to reinvent herself.

Donald Trump (pictured) is, as people will continue to remind them endlessly, a convicted criminal

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers a vaccine update speech from the State Dining Room at the White House, April 6, 2021 in Washington, D.C.

To repeat a somewhat roundabout phrase she has used before, Kamala is now “unburdened from what has been.” She is free from working for Joe — and she could still bring down Donald Trump.

Some argue that Kamala began her resistance before Biden withdrew from the race.

Just look at the money she raised in the first 24 hours. Her campaign team claims it was a cool $230 million.

It was the biggest fundraising day of the 2024 election cycle — and likely a record for any candidate on Day One. Money matters: If you want to capture the attention of the vast majority of Americans who don’t give a damn about politics, you’ve got to pay. They’ll have the money.

Kamala’s supporters now hope she can craft a message that resonates with a nation that has in many ways shown as little enthusiasm for Trump as it has for Biden. She can tap into the hunger for closure to a divisive and volatile chapter in American life.

Kamala is not yet 60. Compared to the 81-year-old Biden and the 78-year-old Trump, she is just a baby.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at an event honoring the 2023–24 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship teams on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on July 22, 2024

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks before signing executive orders on health care, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 28, 2021

She is also — despite all her gaffes and word salads — a very successful woman. As California’s attorney general, she was a bold and tough prosecutor, not afraid to put people in jail.

Donald Trump, she will continue to remind people endlessly, is a convicted criminal.

During her brief time in the Senate, she caused a stir when she asked one of Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominees, now-Judge Brett Kavanaugh, whether there were “laws that give the government the right to make decisions about a man’s body” — a reference, of course, to abortion rights. The exchange went viral on social media.

She is an effective and persistent campaigner for women’s rights and there is no doubt that many Americans feel strongly about this issue.

Many Democrats accuse Donald Trump of appointing the Supreme Court justices who in June 2022 overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling, which ended the constitutional right to abortion.

Recent history has shown that when abortion is on the ballot – as in some recent state elections – Democrats do well.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump during the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., on Monday, July 15, 2024

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (center) marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate the 57th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama on March 6, 2022

In other words, it is an issue that unites Democrats and divides Republicans. Kamala can inflame the issue and come out strongly against those in Trump’s party who want to ban abortion altogether.

Her strong track record in this area will certainly give her a self-confidence she lacked in the past. There is a strange thing that happens when power comes close: you almost automatically become a “serious person” — and this could happen to her.

Crucial to Kamala’s prospects could be her choice of running mate. Normally, the VP isn’t that important, but in such extraordinary circumstances, it could be. A stable governor of a swing state that Democrats need to win could help Harris convince Americans that she means business.

But there is one thing that stands in the way of her future success as a politician. She must take charge now. To do her thing on the world stage, so that she can meet Trump as an equal.

That means Joe Biden is retiring, not just from the campaign, but from the presidency itself. Stubborn Joe is, of course, determined to stay in the Oval Office as long as possible.

But there is a precedent for this that, eerily enough, could be relevant. President Boris Yeltsin of Russia shocked his nation at the turn of the century when he announced his resignation as president just six months before the end of his term — handing power to his favored successor, Russia’s then-prime minister.

His name was Vladimir Putin. It worked out well for him. I’m not making a direct comparison, of course, but it might help to get your feet under the desk early.

Justin Webb presents the Americast podcast on BBC Sounds.