diff --git a/roles/base/tasks/main.yml b/roles/base/tasks/main.yml
index 1ad432a3f6..8cd71fc226 100644
--- a/roles/base/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/base/tasks/main.yml
@@ -525,3 +525,16 @@
   - base
   - config
   - krb5
+
+# rhel8 hosts do not have /usr/bin/python, but there are a few things we call 
+# with that because they also run the same on python2 hosts. 
+# So, we set python3 to /usr/bin/python on those hosts:
+- name: set /usr/bin/python to python3 on rhel8 hosts
+  alternatives:
+    name: python
+    link: /usr/bin/python
+    path: /usr/bin/python3
+  tags:
+  - base
+  - config
+  - python3alternative