Vice President Kamala Harris stated on Wednesday that one crucial aspect of her position is being prepared to “take over” if necessary if President Biden is unable to finish his term in office.
During a tour abroad, Harris was questioned about her suitability for the White House after initially attempting to divert attention from a query about the 80-year-old Biden’s age by highlighting his legislative achievements.
Questions about the president’s age often go hand in hand with questions about how you would step in the role if necessary. Do you feel prepared for that possibility? Has serving as vice president prepared you for that job?” Associated Press reporter Chris Megerian asked Harris.
“Yes,” replied the 58-year-old vice president in Jakarta, Indonesia, where she is representing Biden at the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.
“And how would you describe that process?” the reporter asked.
“Well, first of all, let’s — I’m answering your hypothetical, but Joe Biden is going to be fine. So that is not going to come to fruition,” Harris said.
“But let us also understand that every vice president — every vice president — understands that when they take the oath, that they must be very clear about the responsibility they may have to take over the job of being president. I am no different.”
Four of the 45 presidents have been assassinated while in office, while another four have passed away from natural causes.
In November, Biden, who is already the oldest president in history, turns 81.
Politicians in Washington often avoid raising hypotheticals regarding the probable demise of senior citizens out of concern for public opinion.
For instance, when asked about the declining health of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before her death in 2020, Trump White House staff would decline to react, citing their concern about being perceived as “vultures.”
The RealClearPolitics average of recent polls reveals that Harris has even worse favorability ratings than Biden, with 40.7% of the public approving of her job compared to 41.7% who approve of her boss.
Even though he would be 86 when he left office, Biden is running for re-election in 2024.
Despite publicly complimenting Harris, he apparently was not happy with her.
“A point of tension in their relationship is that I don’t think that the president sees her as somebody who takes anything off of his plate” due to a “fear of messing up,” a former White House official told Reuters in May.
Author Chris Whipple, an expert on West Wing staffing, wrote in his book “The Fight of His Life,” released in January, that Biden considered Harris a “work in progress.”
Biden vented to a friend about his second-in-command in 2021 after he heard that her husband, Douglas Emhoff, was complaining about tasks assigned to her, including mitigating illegal migration and pushing for a federal voting rights law, Whipple wrote.
“Biden was annoyed,” the book says. “He hadn’t asked Harris to do anything he hadn’t done as vice president — and she’d begged him for the voting rights assignment.”
Despite a contentious contest in which she attacked him for opposing federally forced desegregation through student busing, Biden chose Harris, the first female and second non-white VP, as his running partner in 2020.
“That little girl was me!” Harris told Biden during a 2019 debate.
Jill Biden, the first lady, reportedly became so enraged at the exchange that she advised Harris to “go f-k” herself afterward.
If Biden ultimately exits the 2024 campaign, Harris’ vulnerability is expected to unleash a contested Democratic primary, with potential challengers including California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Donald Trump, the 77-year-old former president who is currently leading the Republican field, would defeat Harris, according to polls.
