I began this morning by contemplating the question of which figure was most likely to shape the future of Ukraine. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin came first to mind, of course, and then President Joe Biden. But beyond 2025, the person who is most likely to be shaping U.S. policy on this conflict, and everything else, is Vice President Kamala Harris. Right now, Donald Trump is beating Ron DeSantis, and Joe Biden is beating Donald Trump despite barely hanging on to the ability to perform his duties at age 80. This is a recipe for a President Harris to end up calling the shots in the coming years, and considering the consequences, it is remarkably under-discussed. …

We are getting some “Kamala Harris has turned a corner” pieces again, a political tradition as predictable as the biannual “this is the year Texas Democrats win some key statewide races” pieces. … Good luck, America.

[I think this possibility petrifies Democrats too — but they can’t push her off the 2024 ticket without creating a civil war with progressives who demanded a black woman on the ticket in 2020. That’s why they’re pulling Biden into a Weekend at Bernie’s 2024 presidential run and hoping they can keep his corpse animated enough to get them through to 2029 if required, and if Republicans run Donald Trump and make their turnout efforts easy as possible. Even if the GOP changes direction and beats an otherwise unpopular Biden, that at least leaves them with an open primary in 2028 and forces Kamala to compete on her own talents. — Ed]