Politics with Michelle Grattan: Lester Munson on Kamala Harris’s style and a changed Trump

The 2024 US election took another dramatic turn when President Joe Biden withdrew his re-election bid, endorsing his Vice President, Kamala Harris, to take his place.

The quick switch from Biden to Harris has reinvigorated the Democratic Party and their donors behind a younger candidate. It has thrown up a new challenge for Donald Trump who, however, is still election favorite. It’ll be up to Harris to define her campaign before Trump is able to define her.

To discuss the fast-changing play, we’re joined by Lester Munson, a fellow with the United States Studies Centre.

Munson is a long-time Washington insider, having worked with George W. Bush’s administration, been chief of staff for a Republican senator, and serving as Staff Director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He now works at BGR Group, a leading government relations firm in Washington, DC, and he joined from there on the podcast.

On Kamala Harris having locked in the nomination, set to be ratified at the Democratic convention next month:

There’s no real opposition to her candidacy at this point. She has earned the endorsement of scores of senior Democratic officials if not hundreds. She has raised a significant amount of money and appears to be really dominating the political landscape for Democrats right now. It seems like she’s going to become the nominee by acclamation and with almost unanimous support behind her.

On what kind of candidate Harris might be:

She’s certainly younger than the previous Democratic candidate. She’s substantially younger than Donald Trump. She’s a fresher face. She has a different way of conducting herself in public. That is a radical departure from both Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

And as a Republican, I will just tell you, I think she’s a relatively attractive persona in that she’s got some charisma, she’s got some magnetism, she can light up a room, there’s no doubt about it. And I think people are going to give her a chance to earn their vote. Whether she’s able to do that is a separate question.

Some people have said the failed assassination attempt has changed Trump and Munson agrees:

I think he is changed. […] If you just watch the acceptance speech at the [Republican] convention, you can see like kind of a different look on his face. He seems more at peace with the universe, he seems grateful to be alive. I think that seems genuine to me.

In the event of a second Trump term, Munson gives his advice on what Anthony Albanese should do,

My advice to the Prime Minister would be, work on the relationship part, work on your personal face-to-face time with President Trump. Find the things that he cares about and find a way to deliver some sort of win for him, if that’s useful to you.

If he comes back into office, he’s not going to rely on international law or written agreements or treaties or trade deals. He is going to make decisions based on looking someone in the eye, their body language, the way they shake hands, how attractive they are on TV, how tall they are – very superficial things, but you know that going in, so use that to your advantage and be in the right place at the right time to try to get the the result you want out of the relationship.