Ronald Reagan may have gotten it wrong back in 1986 when the popular conservative Republican President said: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.’”

That is because Vice President Kamala Harris, of word salad fame, has in the wake of elderly President Joe Biden’s diminished memory come up with ten words that are even more terrifying.

They are, “I am ready to serve. There’s no question about that.”

Reagan, a one-time Hollywood actor, who was known for his one-liners, may have been joking when he made his anti-big government comment.

Kamala Harris is serious, even though the joke may be on us.

She even trails Joe Biden, 81, in the public opinion polls — and Biden has already hit rock bottom.

Harris, who is Biden’s border czar, added that everyone who sees her on the job “walks away fully aware of my capacity to lead.”

She made her readiness comment in a Wall Street Journal interview upon mounting concerns about Biden’s mental acuity and ability to continue serving as president.

Biden avoided criminal charges in Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into his handling, or mishandling, of classified documents, some of which were stored in his garage. But Hur painted Biden as an old man who should be put out to pasture, let alone be running a country.

Hur said Biden could not remember, among other things, when he was Barack Obama’s vice president or the date of his son Beau’s death.

If charges were filed, Hur said, “Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview with him, as a sympathetic, well meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

In other words, he would walk, unlike Donald Trump, 77, who is accused of much the same thing—taking home classified documents he was allegedly not supposed to have.

While Harris is ready to serve, she may have to wait a while because there is no sign that Biden will step aside and every sign that he is determined to run for re-election.

If there are any doubts, he put them to rest when during his contentious press conference following release of the Hur report when he said, ”I’m the most qualified person in the country to be president of the United States and finish the job I started.”

That job, some might argue, is to complete the destruction of the country.

Meanwhile a whopping 86% of Americans, probably including Harris, believe that Biden is too old to be running for president again. He would be eighty-six upon completion of a second term.

While Republicans have suggested that the 25th amendment could be invoked, which would allow the cabinet and the vice president to replace an incapacitated president with the vice president, that will not happen.

Despite his age-related problems—not to mention policy disasters, like the opening the border to ten million illegal immigrants, Democrats are sticking by, or are stuck with, Biden.

Outside of Rep. Dean Phillps of Minnesota, no Democrat is challenging Biden in the primaries as the party heads to its August nominating convention.

It is Biden’s convention. Biden controls the Democrat Party and the rulemaking Democrat National Committee and the 4,000 convention delegates who will be attending.

He will win the nomination if he wants it, which it appears that he does.

Were Biden to withdraw from the race before the convention while remaining President, as President Lyndon Johnson did in 1968, the party nomination would not automatically go to Harris.

She could still win it if Biden endorsed her, but it would be a bloody fight with challengers like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, for instance, and a score of others.

But Biden is in it to stay.

So right now the eight most terrifying words in the English language are: “I’m Joe Biden and I’m running for reelection.”

Peter Lucas is a veteran Massachusetts political reporter and columnist. 

President Joe Biden speaks with reporters Saturday as he leaves St. Edmund Roman Catholic Church in Rehoboth Beach, Del., after attending a Mass. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)