To the NY Times Editorial Board:
The impulse to report on the election as a “horse race” is practically irresistible. The lack of movement in the polls despite Harris’ strong debate performance and Trump’s increasingly unstable behavior is a testament to the seeming immovability of Trump voters, and those of us who are apprehensive about the possible outcome can’t help but to check the polls on a near-daily basis.
Buf there may be a way out. I suggest that a “reframing” is in order, one that might just get through to some otherwise seemingly-immovable Trump supporters:
Imagine this:
You require serious, life-or-death brain surgery. And imagine that you have to choose between Trump and Harris to perform it. You have no other options.
Neither are qualified neurosurgeons, of course, but who would you choose to ultimately do the necessary research, do the necessary work, make the right decisions?
This is not a football game. Stop acting like it is.
With all due respect to neurosurgeons, being president of the United States is undoubtedly a more complex job. And undoubtedly, many many thousands more will live or die as a result of who wins the election. If you have Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security, you may be one of them. So the takeaway is this:
This is not a football game. Stop acting like it is. Imagine that it’s you, your son, your daughter, your wife – all of us – on the operating table and you have the choice as to which of the two will hold our lives in his or her hands.
To strain a metaphor, anyone who’d choose the 78-year-old, unstable, sociopathic Trump would need to get their head examined.
Thank you for your consideration and for the indispensable work you do.
