BIDEN TOWN HALL: EXCELLENT, TRUMP TOWN HALL: A CORNUCOPIA OF LIES

 

                                                  …NBC’s Savannah Guthrie

 

Trump still hasn’t denounced the QAnon theory

 

I have to say that during the commercial breaks in the latest Joe Biden Town Hall, I changed the channel over to the Trump Town Hall and his discussion with Savannah Guthrie.  From what I saw, and based on what I later heard, Guthrie did a good job of asking good, hard-hitting questions.  And, according to Rachael Maddow after the Town Halls, Trump’s answers were a cavalcade of lies and misrepresentations.

I was also pleased to hear the former VP Biden, not being interrupted, and to hear his very complete answers.  I was happy to hear that Biden stayed over for 30 minutes after the cameras were off, just to better answer some of the questions from some of the audience.  These were people that were not able to present their questions during the actual Biden Town Hall.

Biden showed that it was important that everyone that had a question, they were going to get an answer, even if it wasn’t on prime-time TV.

The decision by NBC to air the president's event at the same time as Biden’s previously scheduled one on ABC was a source of controversy, (Because the word on the street was that Trump had said to NBC: “I want the same time as Biden’s, or forget it!”)  However, the two events provided a pretty good window into their contrasting approaches, as a debate would have, even if this was not having them stand side by side.  At least Biden got to answer without being interrupted. 

The following are some of the results that were taken away from the two Town Halls:

• Trump’s smorgasbord of misinformation and false choices were continually called out by Ms. Guthrie.

• A couple of recent Trump interviews have stood out for the interviewers’ rare abilities and efforts to call out Trump’s lies in real time.  One was from Fox News Chris Wallace and another from Axio’s Jonathan Swan.  This time we got another call-out in the same category, but from NBC’s Guthrie.

• In the approximately 20 minutes before the town hall was turned over to audience questions, Guthrie thoroughly grilled the president.  As Trump repeated false claims about the coronavirus outbreak and as he dodged things like QAnon and whether he would accept the election results.  Guthrie proceeded to pepper him with sharp questions, follow-ups and fact checks.

• When Trump claimed that a study showed 85% of people who wear masks still get the coronavirus, Guthrie noted he falsely characterized the study.  The study actually said that 85% of people had asked if the masks would impair their breathing.

• When Trump defended his pandemic response by citing a study that showed 2 million people could have died of the coronavirus, Guthrie rightly noted that the model he quoted predicted that result, only if the government did zero mitigation efforts

• When Trump responded to questions about his mask usage by setting up a false choice between wearing a mask and staying out of the public altogether, Guthrie had noted, “But there’s no one that says you can’t be out there, it’s about wearing masks like while having your rallies.”

• When Trump set up another false choice between his repeated downplaying of the coronavirus threat and telling the country “everybody’s going to die,” Guthrie asked, “Isn’t there a middle ground? You don’t have to mislead.” Trump falsely responded with: “No, no. No, there’s not a middle ground.”

• When Trump declined to denounce QAnon because he said he didn’t know what it was about, Guthrie provided details about what it was about and invited him to denounce it, noting Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) has flatly denounced it as “nuts.” Trump instead offered that he liked that QAnon was against pedophilia and they supported him.

• When Guthrie pressed Trump on his retweets last week of a bizarre conspiracy theory about Osama bin Laden’s death, Trump explained by saying he was just passing along information. “That was a retweet. I’ll put it out there. People can decide for themselves.”  Guthrie then provided the retort those tweets have long demanded: that he’s the president, not someone’s “crazy uncle” spouting off on Twitter, and that the information was from him as the president, and that matters.

• Like the Wallace and Swan interviews, Trump was clearly rattled by being so frequently and effectively questioned on his claims.  Plenty had complained that NBC News was providing the president this forum opposite Biden’s town hall despite Trump having pulled out of a debate scheduled for the same night. Guthrie’s almost literal cross-examination, (By the way, she is a lawyer), of him should have rid the public of any fears that this would amount to a free platform for the president.

Now Biden, at his event, had a steady showing that he needed with the election clock ticking down

Biden is continuing to lead Trump by a double-digit average in national polls and in many of the states that Trump previously won. As a result, the race seems in many ways like Biden’s to lose.

Biden didn’t make any glaring mistakes that would jeopardize his position, even with George Stephanopolous asking tough follow-ups on questions about his record on race, policing, fracking and more.

For the most part, Biden gave answers we’ve heard from him before.  And he gave them in a way that perhaps would have been impossible for him to do during a debate like the one two weeks ago.  That was where he was constantly interrupted by Trump. The town hall format has been kind to Biden in the past, and it was a hurdle he cleared easily Thursday.

Now, what happens if there is one more debate, as is scheduled, is another big question.

In addition, Trump has again stepped into another non-denouncing minefield on QAnon.

In the span of less than a minute in the NBC News Town Hall, Trump sought to once and for all put to bed the.“denounce-white-supremacy issue that dogged him after the debate two weeks ago”.  But then, almost immediately, he created another “not-denouncing issue that will likely linger over the days to come.”

Trump was clearly frustrated with being asked the white supremacy question. After declining at the debate two weeks ago to directly denounce it, and telling the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” which they took as encouragement.  Trump and the White House have spent the next 48 hours declining to more directly denounce them.  They argued that Trump’s previous answers should suffice.   However, Trump did state at the NBC Town Meeting that he denounces white supremacism.  We’ll see.

But when Guthrie asked Trump whether he would also denounce QAnon, which the US government regards as a dangerous conspiracy theory.  Trump declined. He again maintained that he didn’t actually know what it (QAnon) was about, despite having been asked about it two months ago where he said the same thing.

Then, in almost a carbon copy of the Proud Boys comment, Trump said something that could very well be read by QAnon supporters as encouragement

“I do know they are very much against pedophilia,” Trump said. “They fight it very hard.”

This baseless conspiracy theory does indeed involve a supposed battle against pedophilia, but not one that is based in any reality. The movement has gained strength in recent months, with a recent poll showing Republicans being about evenly split on whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing.  QAnon supporters and sympathizers have won GOP primaries, including Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is likely to win a congressional seat in Georgia. (Despite Greene having been denounced by most Republicans.)

Trump’s desire not to alienate people who hold fringe views is well established. But at a moment in the campaign in which he needs to wage a comeback, he seemingly signed himself up for another few days of, “why-won’t-you-denounce coverage about something that Americans overwhelmingly reject.”  Not exactly an ideal situation for the president.

Biden has opened the door to comment further on the Democrats adding Supreme Court justices before Election Day.

 

During the ABC News Town Hall on Oct. 15, the Democratic presidential nominee said he is still "not a fan" of adding justices, but he did not rule it out.

Biden, not being a fan of packing the Supreme Court with more justices, this is something that has been floated by a growing number of Democrats following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  But he also has not committed to not doing it.  “It depends on how this turns out,” he said, referring to the Senate confirmation process for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. Given the GOP’s control of the Senate, Barrett is on the fast track to being confirmed.

In reality, adding justices, like they have done in the Appellant Courts would make the court more fair and moderate.  But this is against what the GOP wants.

Biden has been cagey in his answers about this. He has said that if he gives an answer, that will dominate the conversation, rather than the nomination itself.

But that has just prompted persistent questions from reporters to clarify where he stands. When he was asked to give a more definitive answer, he repeated that line, but he was a little more revealing about how open he is to it.

“It depends on how much they rush this,” he said, adding that if the nomination goes forward quickly, “I’m open to considering what happens from that point on.”

As of today, in the latest Washington Post-ABC News Poll, Democratic nominee, Joe Biden leads President Trump, with 54% of likely voters favoring him vs. 42% for Trump.

Let’s hope that is what it looks like for the next 2 weeks.

Copyright G. Ater 2020