'To everyone voting for Trump, I have only this simple question: Would you let him have lunch with your daughter or sister or wife or mother?'
'Then why would you let him have our lunch (and so much more) for four more years?', asks Sree Sreenivasan.
On three issues, I am reaching out to persuadable, undecided voters:
The economy (even The Economist says we are doing great); Gaza (Mehdi Hasan points out problems voting for Trump or Jill Stein to punish Kamala Harris) and anti-Semitism (as supportive Trump loves Benjamin Netanyahu, he's unleashed the worst anti-Semitism in America).
In these last 48 hours before the most consequential election of my lifetime, I am writing this aimed solely at the folks who may be persuadable.
Below you will find descriptions of three Americans you may recognize in your circles -- people worried about the economy, people worried about Gaza and Palestinians, and people worried about rising anti-Semitism -- and my closing arguments to them.
If you recognize even one of these folks, please forward it to them. I seek no credit, cut-n-paste and share away! If they are truly persuadable and we can change even a few minds, it's worth it.
And to everyone else voting for Trump, I have only this simple question. Would you let him have lunch with your daughter or sister or wife or mother? Then why would you let him have our lunch (and so much more) for four more years?
FOR PEOPLE WORRIED ABOUT THE ECONOMY
The US economy is booming by every measure, and a Trump administration would undo all of the post-Covid progress we've made.
-
Here's a write-up (external link) of why, and here's a more detailed report(external link), mass deportations, increased tariffs, and threats to turn the military on 'the enemy within', have economists believing that a second Trump presidency would have a sharp, negative impact on the economy.
-
Here's a letter from 16 Nobel Prize-winning economists (external link) about the negative effects of Trump's economic proposals.
-
Here's the Economist (the fiscally conservative magazine that loves Ronald Reagan), saying if it had a vote, it would vote for Kamala Harris (external link).
FOR PEOPLE WORRIED ABOUT GAZA
For Arab and Muslim Americans worried about Gaza and the Palestinian people, I say please do take Trump and his supporters at face value -- believe them when they tell us exactly who they are.
Independent journalist Mehdi Hasan, who has been criticizing Biden, Blinken and Harris on what's happening in Gaza, says voting for Trump or Jill Stein, will backfire:
Senator Bernie Sanders released a video endorsing Harris for president, and he makes the case for supporting her better than I ever could. It's safe to say that Sanders is as genuine as it gets on this issue, and I think it's imperative to understand that a second Trump administration, free from the restraints of official Washington that were present in his first term, would be devastating for Muslim Americans of all stripes.
FOR PEOPLE WORRIED ABOUT ANTI-SEMITISM
I ask you to consider where so much of the rhetoric comes from. This report from Vox in 2021 (external link) is one of the best, most complete chronicles of Trump's forays into hate speech and violence.
It's all there, from the increase in hate crimes during his presidency to his utter complacence and complicity in the reinvigoration of public displays of hate speech.
As recently as September, Trump said that 'the Jewish people' would be partly to blame if he were to lose this election. This is from a CNN report on the event (external link):
'I'm not going to call this as a prediction, but in my opinion, the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss if I'm at 40% support in the polls, Trump told Republicans in Washington at an event billed as opposing antisemitism. 'If I'm at 40, think of it, that means 60% are voting for Kamala, who, in particular, is a bad Democrat. The Democrats are bad to Israel, very bad.'
At his now-infamous Madison Square Garden rally(external link) (which a Jewish speaker himself called 'a Nazi rally' (external link)), the hate flowed freely and make no mistake, not a single word uttered was 'taken out of context'.
The context was that this was a major political rally by a major party presidential candidate, full stop.
This is an election of contrasts, and I urge you to contrast what Trump and his allies say versus Harris and her cohort. The differences are profound.
The world is such that political 'sides' are so stark and well-defined that it's nearly impossible to not be on one side or the other.
As one friend recently wrote, 'Your headlines are all about how bad Trump is, how evil Musk is, etc. You are writing only for those voting for Kamala'.
This is true, of course, I do write about how bad, evil, and just plain awful Trump and Elon Musk are(external link). I do so quite often, in fact.
I do not see this as some sort of partisan venture, however -- these are the facts, plain and simple.
The fact that understanding them to be immutable facts happens to be a position ascribed to the political left is, in this case, just coincidence.
The way I see it, if you are still up in the air on your presidential vote, you are not a Trump person.
If you were a Trump voter, you're a Trump voter. My case to you is this: A vote for 2024 Trump is only going to hurt you and those around you.
I totally understand and sympathize with people who feel like the status quo politics of the pre-MAGA era were actually quite bad for large swathes of working Americans.
Many people do not see something like a return to 'normal' politics -- something that is a de facto cornerstone of the Harris campaign -- as really all that great.
But, we have a choice to make today and it is a choice between two individuals with starkly different views of the world and America's place in it.
I understand that the choice between Harris and Trump may seem to some as not much of a choice at all, but the fact is that it is a choice -- one that we all should participate in.
Choosing to sit out the election, or to vote for a third-party candidate both equate to throwing away the greatest influence we have over the future of our country.
It's a fact that some of Trump's most vocal critics are Republicans who worked for him (external link) at the highest levels of government.
It's a fact that his own running mate once called him 'America's Hitler'(external link).
It's a fact that there's an opening for a GOP vice president only because Trump's own insurrectionist mob wanted to hang Mike Pence.
It's a fact that deplorable Robert F Kennedy Jr. would have a major role (external link) in a future Trump administration.
This is a man who does not believe in vaccines -- one of humanity's greatest achievements -- and will be in a position to affect the health of every man, woman, and child in America.
Read about how his penchant for lies led to deaths (external link) from a measles outbreak in American Samoa.
Just keeping RFK Jr out of our healthcare should be a good enough reason to not vote Trump. But I've given you so much more. Thanks for listening (and forwarding).
Sree Sreenivasan is a leading tech expert based in New York City. He is the co-founder of SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association. You can find him on Twitter at x.com/sree
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com
