I would probably be better off if I just describe more literally what I see to be poison and how it applies to the candidate in question than using the word symbolically.
True, to reframe the issue is another way to address it. I was just trying to say it’s valid to talk about metaphorical poison and that that wasn’t my concern. My concern is where we view the poison’s control to be. It’s kind of similar to the “guns do not kill, criminals wielding guns do” distinction.
If I “am poison” that is my own fault. But that also means there is a hypothetical way to change it. To me that’s important because I can be “perplexed but not despairing” both when I and when others are in such a situation.
And that is hope we can believe in. Because there is a Changer who actually is credible.