So Richard, we recorded our latest listeners questions episode before the news broke that Joe Biden would no longer be running for a second term and before the coronation of Kamala Harris as his successor.

Do you think Harris makes a dramatic difference to the prospects of the Democrats winning the election in November?

After all, the extent to which the Biden circus was allowed to go on for so long had to have had something

to do with Harris' perceived weakness as a candidate?

My instinct, for what it's worth, is that it's just not going to be enough to win, but

I would be careful about drawing any firm conclusions just yet.

I mean, there was some polling that showed that most voters wanted a generic younger

Democrat and that such a candidate would defeat Trump by a significant margin because there is a

depth of anti-Trump feeling out there. As soon as you get an actual younger Democrat, of course,

they come with all their apparent flaws, their visible disadvantages, and that advantage erodes.

Harris is running a campaign that, to me, reeks of Hillary Clinton in 2016.

That is to say, lots of vibes, heavily branded, Brat Summer, etc.

Rate deal of effort put into fostering parissocial enthusiasm

because it's comparatively cheap and easy, very little policy.

Now, all that branding stuff is fine,

but it only really works if you have an offer of some kind.

If I was going to, on the basis of the current polling

and the campaign that Harris has just started

and, you know, her predictable slander on those

protesting outside the Netanyahu Genocide Fest and Washington, and then considering Trump's

edge with his own base, which is very loyal, I would say she's going to lose.

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