It was a stark contrast between Trump and Biden on display in dueling town halls. It lays bare serious issues for both candidates. I do not like either of these men.
It’s another year of voting for the lesser of two evils.
Trump and Biden were both forced to answer tough questions as the President vied for an elusive campaign reset while trying to defend his response to the coronavirus pandemic, his embrace of conspiracy theories and his stance on White supremacists under tough questioning from NBC’s Savannah Guthrie.
Here are the noteworthy parts of each town hall.
The Joe Biden Town Hall
There was no confrontation between Joe Biden and moderator George Stephanopoulos
Biden opened his ABC town hall on Thursday night by describing how he would have handled the coronavirus differently, using the comparison to lambast President Donald Trump for his somewhat uneven response to the virus.
Biden said there should have been more national standards earlier in the pandemic and that the President should be pushing all Americans to use masks as a way to stop the spread. Biden said he would lean on governors, as president, to mandate mask use.
At the same time, Biden was repeatedly pressed to clarify his position on whether he will support adding members to the Supreme Court, his work on the 1986 and 1994 crime bills and his positions on fracking and the Green New Deal. He was also forced to explain his controversial comment that if Black Americans don’t support him “you ain’t Black.”
The Donald Trump Town Hall
Savannah Guthrie, the moderator, was confrontational with Trump from the very beginning of the event. She questioned his action and behavior throughout the one hour program. Trump did what he does best. He was evasive in answering questions from Guthrie and those that asked questions.
In one of the most news-making moments of the night, the President admitted that he may not have taken a coronavirus test on the day of his debate with Biden, even though he was required to do so by the Commission on Presidential Debates and tested positive for Covid-19 two days later.
He refused to say when his last negative test was before the debate and did not express any regret for the Rose Garden event that is now widely viewed as a “super-spreader” event, where attendees were not socially distanced and did not wear masks.
When asked about the New York Times reports that he has debts of approximately $421 million dollars — loans that he has personally guaranteed and that will come due in the next four years — Trump nodded but then insisted that the newspaper’s numbers are “all wrong.” He told Guthrie that he does not owe money to Russia. But when Guthrie asked whether he owes anything to foreign banks, Trump replied: “Not that I know of.”
I doubt any minds were changed as the result of these two events. It was just interesting to see how they responded to some tough questions. Joe Biden’s refusal tp take a stand on Supreme Court packing could harm him. Donald Trump’s attitude toward wearing masks could harm him.
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