Swing voters fear 'incompetent' Trump may be a 'vessel' for extremists: opinion editor

A shift is happening among undecided voters following the debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris: they're starting to worry about the extreme figures Trump has surrounded himself with.

That's according to deputy opinion editor Patrick Healy, who wrote in an opinion piece for The New York Times that those voters are wondering whether those extremists will effectively control the country if Trump wins.

The debate was, in the eyes of most observers, a disaster for Trump who struggled to answer questions and had to be repeatedly nudged by moderators to stop promoting false claims, including that Haitian immigrants were eating people's pets. Focus groups after the fact gave the win handily to Harris. But it's opening up a broader shift in how voters see the election altogether, Healy argued.

Healy asked a panel of 14 voters followed by the Times how their minds have changed since August. The results were striking.

"Two of them quickly brought up how much they had soured on Vance. Another young person had heard about Fred Trump’s assertions about Donald Trump and disabled people and felt disgusted with the former president. While many of them still have reservations about Harris after Tuesday’s debate, they were more dismayed with Trump’s behavior and remarks. Some were disgusted by his false allegations about migrants eating pets in Ohio. Two others brought up the images of [Laura] Loomer and Trump."

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Loomer, a far-right activist who has pushed 9/11 conspiracy theories, was seen attending a Sept. 11 memorial service with Trump this week, sparking outrage even among fellow Trump supporters in Congress.

Meanwhile, a California voter laid out his simple fear about Trump, which Healy said was representative of the group.

"I think he’s incompetent. What scares me is the people he’s surrounded himself with and how they can use him. Laura Loomer was on the plane with them. The Heritage Foundation and all the plans they have. It just seems like he’s a vessel for other people who are way more competent and have way more plans to do stuff that I personally don’t agree with."

This comes as voters roundly reject Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's transition plan to remake the entire federal government along pro-GOP and Christian nationalist lines — to the point that Trump has, with limited success, tried to claim he has nothing to do with the plan.

In short, concluded Healy, "It’s not hard to imagine many Americans deciding in late October to take a chance on Harris (like they did in 2016 with Trump) rather than see a candidate they don’t like take the White House."