Intro

This week, Matt and Brian discuss the Democrats brand new presumptive presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, and how she might end up on top after the dust from this shakeup settles.

* What can and should Harris do to broaden her appeal relative to Joe Biden, given that she’s both inheriting his campaign and is viewed to be more left wing than he is.

* Can she maintain renewed youth and non-white voter enthusiasm and disarm skeptical swing voters simultaneously?

* Are Democrats ready for coming Republican attacks on Harris—the ones that might actually do some damage?

Then, a whole lot more behind the paywall. Is the lesson of Hillary Clinton and now Joe Biden that the Republican smear machine has grown so big and unchallenged that it can make any leading Democrat politically unviable in a short amount of time? What kinds of structural changes to the progressive firmament might help Democrats weather these attacks and land agenda-setting attacks of their own? How can any Democrat succeed in this environment if Democrats do’t change anything?

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Further reading:

* Brian wonders whether we’ve entered a new period where Democrats will have to get used to their presidents serving a single term, during which they'll be cannon fodder in right-wing dominated media.

* Matt’s 17 thoughts on the newly transformed race.

* Ron Brownstein on whether Harris’s coalition will look more like Biden’s, Barack Obama’s, or somewhere in between.