WHATEVER HAPPENED TO JUST HOLDING YOUR NOSE?
Keith Boag
There are 30 days left in the US presidential race and The New York Times reports that slightly north of 15 percent of voters say they haven’t made up their minds yet. Apparently they’re stuck on whether a sexual predator, pathological liar and convicted felon, who toadies to autocrats, stole US military secrets, and tried to overturn the last election, deserves another shot at leading the free world.
To many, that might sound like performative indecision. After all, if you’ve been with that guy this far, what exactly is the tipping point detail you’re waiting for?
It brings to mind the in-flight service scene that writer David Sedaris imagined when he lampooned the supposed quandary facing voters in an earlier campaign:
The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of sh*t with bits of broken glass in it?”
To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.
Sadly, the joke is funniest when the ridiculousness of the choice is clearest, as it is now: One candidate, former president Donald Trump, is demonstrably unfit to hold a public office of any kind—therefore, choose the one who isn’t him, right? Easy.
Says who?
Says a list of prominent Republicans headed by former congresswoman Liz Cheney and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney—life-long, uber conservatives, both—who have pledged to vote for the Democrat, Kamala Harris. The daughter has made the courageous decision to repeatedly draw attention to her fire-breathing condemnations of Trump including while standing next to Harris at campaign events.
Says the former Georgia Lieutenant Governor and Republican Geoff Duncan, who spoke at the Democrats' convention in August and told the Republicans watching on TV that Trump was a direct threat to democracy and that if they vote for Harris “you’re not a Democrat, you’re a patriot.”
Says a lengthening list of Republicans who served in the Trump administration in his first term, and now say he should never get anywhere near the Oval Office again — press secretary Stephanie Grisham, vice-presidential aide Cassidy Hutchinson, communications director Anthony Scaramucci, Homeland Security advisor Olivia Troye, the list goes on and on and includes scores of past members of the national security establishment.
Those voices are important because they are raised against the complicity of others who recognize the same problems in Trump, but cravenly refuse to follow the mass of incriminating evidence to its logical conclusion.
The complicit are building a permission structure that allows voters to see Trump for what he is and still pretend that, despite the clear and present danger of his behaviour, he’s better than the alternative. The reigning gold medalist in this very competitive category is former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.
During her primary challenge, Haley described Trump as “unhinged” and “unstable”, and she gave herself a heap of credit for having the courage to speak out. Lots of Republicans agree Trump was a “disaster” she said, “They are just too afraid to say it out loud. Well I’m not afraid to say the hard truth out loud. I feel no need to kiss the ring.”
“Bravo!” cried the never-Trumpers, and Haley took her bows.
Then she quit her campaign, and when the ring came around, she puckered up and endorsed Trump, promising she will vote for him in November.
Same with former Attorney General Bill Barr. He confirmed through an official investigation that the criminal conspiracy begat by Trump to violently overturn the 2020 election and steal back the White House was based on what he called Trump’s “bullsh*t”, but he will vote for him anyway.
Even former vice-president Mike Pence, who might have been killed in the January 6th insurrection because of Trump, and who has said he isn’t endorsing him, has not gone so far as to say he won’t vote for him. Pence’s knock on Trump is preciously beside the point: he’s dismayed that Trump is going soft on abortion.
Then there are the navel-gazers typified by the New York Times columnist Brett Stephens, who’s been stroking his chin about what Harris must do to “earn” his vote. Stephens took the first step on the conservative’s common sense journey when he declared he won’t vote for Trump, but he has been reluctant to put the other foot forward and say who will get his vote.
To “earn” his vote Stephens would like to hear Harris outline a coherent response to a Houthi attack on commercial shipping, for instance. Whatever happened to just holding your nose and getting on with it
Stephens is obfuscating, of course. Even if Harris doesn’t “earn” his vote, you can bet that somewhere in the fine print of his thinking is a clause that allows him to give it to her anyway.
The danger is that Stephens and his ilk, in their determination to over-intellectualise the ballot question, are providing a framework that less eccentric minds can use to talk themselves into believing that the imaginary consequences of a Harris presidency are worse than the certain consequences of Trump in The White House again.
Meanwhile Trump thrilled a MAGA crowd recently by calling for one really nasty day of ultra violent police brutality to curb crime. And the Judge in his election subversion plot released details of the case that describe his attempt to overthrow the last election as more determined and dangerous than we’d previously known.
This shouldn’t be difficult, and maybe it won’t be. Maybe “undecided” simply means folks are taking a bathroom break on their long, bumpy journey from Trump to Harris. Still, can they hurry up, please? We’re starting to freak out a little bit.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Keith Boag - The US presidential ticket is set: Trump + Vance versus Harris + Waltz. And to cover that election, we're bringing our readers and listeners a brilliant journalistic mind and political correspondent legend, Keith Boag! Keith was with the CBC for more than 30 years, including as Chief Political Correspondent. His career included work for many years in Washington, D.C., and as Ottawa Bureau Chief. Keith covered seven federal elections in Canada, ten party leadership campaigns, as well as several US elections. Keith will regularly offer his written analysis via "QUOTES" at Air Quotes Media.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Air Quotes Media. Read more opinion contributions via QUOTES from Air Quotes Media.