Opinion | Trump Keeps Forgetting He Isn't Contesting Biden Anymore

Consider the full magnitude of Kamala Harris' challenge coming into Tuesday's debate. She is half Black and half Indian in a predominantly white nation where they are in a growing funk about being reduced to less than a majority by 2042. Her opponent is an alpha male, Donald Trump, in a society that is more macho than any other “advanced” country.

Harris had a disastrous campaign for the Democratic nomination in 2020. She is remembered for her left-of-centre policies like universal health care and decriminalisation of illegal immigration, and for opposing fracking. She was the Vice-President - among the nation's most nondescript jobs - to a president who became deeply unpopular because of high inflation and botched immigration controls.

She did not go through the grind of nomination party primaries where her policies, postures and personality would get defined. She was catapulted into being the Domestic contender less than 100 days before election eve. She is not the leftist of 2020. She cannot position herself as the baton carrier of Biden's legacy because that would be electoral suicide. Her biggest problem is that people do not know enough about her or what she stands for.