Competing Town Halls: What You Need To Know

After the canceled presidential debate that was supposed to take place last night on Oct. 15, as a result of President Donald Trump’s unwillingness to be a part of a virtual debate due to his COVID-19 diagnosis, Vice President Joe Biden scheduled a town hall to expand on key issues, moderated by George Stephanopoulos. When the President was given clearance by his doctors, he went ahead and scheduled his very own town hall on the same day and at the same time as the Vice President’s, moderated by Savannah Guthrie. Both town halls began at 8 p.m. EST with Biden’s lasting 90 minutes and Trump’s lasting 60 minutes. 

The first topic of discussion for Trump was his positive coronavirus diagnosis. He explained that he didn’t remember whether he got tested before the debate that took place on Sep. 29. Given the current circumstances with the coronavirus pandemic, attending debates is based on the honor system, for which COVID-19 tests are not required but are expected to be taken prior. CNN political analyst Dana Bash said that “his non-answer was an answer,” referring to Trump’s attempts to defer the question. When Guthrie pressed him for an answer, the president merely responded, “So cute.” 

Biden, on the other hand, was asked about how he would handle the pandemic differently from the president’s approach and said that he would follow in President Barack Obama’s previous pandemic plan and that as president he would work with officials of all levels of government to make sure that citizens are wearing masks. He included that he “would take [the vaccine] and would encourage people to take it,” and that “we should be thinking about making it mandatory.” Trump went on to incorrectly cite a study conducted by the CDC saying that “85 percent of the people that wear masks catch it.” The study actually explains that “85 percent said they had worn a mask either ‘always’ or ‘often’ over the 14 days prior to the onset of their illness.” After discussing mask usage, in which the President talked about Dr. Anthony Fauci’s initial stances on not wearing masks at the beginning of the pandemic based on the fear that there may be a shortage of them for health professionals, he ultimately declared that wearing a mask is good and that “we’re on the same side.” 

Biden was then asked about the tax cuts that he has promised to make. Biden responded that he plans to eliminate tax cuts for the wealthy and reiterated that one of his tactics in his plan is to raise the corporate tax back to 28 percent to, in turn, alleviate the tax burden on working class. 

Biden was asked about his “you ain’t black” remark and how he plans to transmit confidence to those black voters whom “the system has failed to protect,” to which he responded by citing some of his economic and educational proposals. According to CNN‘s Eric Bradner, “Biden also said he would seek a $15,000 credit for first-time homebuyers, telling the man it’s a crucial step toward helping low-income families accumulate wealth,” as well as allocating $70 billion to historically black colleges and universities. 

In regard to immigration, the president concluded that he would “take care of” DACA and that Americans will be “very happy over the course of the next year;” that is, if he wins another term as president and is able to conclude his plans. Trump, moreover, finally declared that he would conceive a peaceful transition of power if he were to lose, but only if this came from a fair election. President Trump said, “Peaceful transfer…I absolutely want that, but ideally, I don’t want a transfer because I want to win.” This is what many were hoping to hear, even though it creates a conflict of interest because it automatically questions the electoral process before it occurs.  

Furthermore, Trump focused on denouncing left-wing organizations, such as Antifa, but attempted to evade questions on white supremacy and the QAnon conspiracy theory that he had previously retweeted. His moderator, however, did not hesitate to press him on these questions to obtain definite answers. Guthrie explained to him that as president, he is not at liberty to retweet such a thing because he is not “somebody’s crazy uncle.” The president kept on saying that he did not know much of this group and that he simply wanted to put information out there for others to access. 

In addition, the Former Vice President also covered the Supreme Court and court-packing—on which he is still undecided but promised to have a definite stand on before the election—fracking and the Green New Deal, other education initiatives, the 1994 Crime Bill—which he called a mistake—and transgender policies. Meanwhile, the president also included his IRS audit, the Supreme Court nomination and how that could affect Roe v. Wade, and other coronavirus related points into his town hall. 

The conflict of interests with the times of the town halls caused many to boycott NBC and to also denounce it as being “a bad result for American voters, who should not be forced to choose which to watch,” according to one former NBC News executive, Mark Lukasiewicz, through Twitter. Nonetheless, many note how vital this election term is to everybody and the importance of making educated and informed choices when selecting the next representatives. The next debate is going to take place on Thursday, Oct. 22 and the election is on Nov. 3.

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• election 2020
• FSU
• politics
• town hall