I thought we all agreed to watch Joe Biden’s town hall on ABC? Why were so many people watching Donald Trump’s dumbass NBC town hall? I guess journalists were maybe watching both at the same time. NBC’s decision to give Trump that air time in direct competition with the Biden town hall ended up blowing up in NBC’s face. More than 100 writers, actors and producers with shows on NBC signed a letter asking their boss to move Trump’s town hall to a different time. Mariska Hargitay was NOT having a sexual predator on her network! But in the end, Trump’s thing aired for an hour on NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo and I guess people watched it. I don’t know why. Trump just seemed as batsh-t insane as ever. I’m not going to put up a million clips of his bullsh-t, but here’s part of the Daily Beast’s coverage:
Over on NBC, President Trump was busy doing a kinder, gentler impression of his usual self. Still, it included some of the same excesses. Pressed by host Savannah Guthrie on the conspiracy theory QAnon, which puts forth that a mighty cabal of Satanic cannibal-pedophiles are pulling the strings of the Democratic Party, the president couldn’t bring himself to unequivocally disavow. “I know nothing about it,” Trump claimed. “I do know they are very much against pedophilia, they fight it very hard.”
He said he did not recall whether he was tested for COVID-19 just before his Cleveland debate with Biden last month. He claimed he had a great relationship with black communities, despite all evidence to the contrary. He continued to refrain from fully endorsing the wearing of masks during the coronavirus pandemic, a position that many of the top public-health experts working in his administration say is utterly dangerous to the American public.
When asked about his promotion on Twitter of the batsh-t conspiracy theory that Biden had SEAL Team Six murdered, Trump said, “That was a retweet. That was an opinion of somebody, and that was a retweet. I’ll put it out there. People can decide.” That answer baffled Guthrie. “I don’t get that. You’re the president—you’re not, like, someone’s crazy uncle who can just retweet whatever!”
The president continued to defend his administration’s pursuit of destroying the Affordable Care Act and ripping away protections for Americans with preexisting conditions, while claiming he is going to protect Americans with preexisting conditions.
Still, to various players and operatives in Trumpworld, the president still managed to dramatically improve his public messaging compared to his widely panned (including among his close advisers) performance in the first Trump-Biden debate. Granted, that was setting the bar through the floor. “He didn’t spend the whole time yelling, he didn’t piss himself… so this was as best as we could have hoped for,” said one Trump campaign adviser. “After the last debate, that is an improvement.”
Yeah, the Trump campaign knows something very dark about American politics: that the majority of American media loves the drama of it and not the policy. The media is stuck on Trump’s insanity and melodrama and optics and hysteria. But yeah, setting the bar at “Trump didn’t collapse and have a mini-stroke during the townhall” is absolutely setting the bar too low. Trump half-way endorsed a terrorist group, he lied constantly, he said masks didn’t help protect people and on and on. I’m so tired of this.
I can’t find a video with “highlights” so I’ll just embed this Rachel Maddow clip.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
I mean…..when someone from his camp says “well he didn’t piss himself so its a win” – wow. That’s a new low.
I’m reading a WaPo article about it now (I did not watch) and he doesn’t come off as nice and calm as he does in this daily beast article. If he was aggressive towards Savannah, that’s going to lose him points among the very women he says he wants to like him – the suburban women. I don’t watch it, but I know so many women my age (roughly) who watch Today on a regular basis and Savannah is THEIR GIRL. Attacking Savannah is like attacking them personally.
I read an article last night that said he asked Savannah why they weren’t asking Biden about Antifa. She responded that it was because he wasn’t there (why would they ask Biden a question when he wasn’t AT THE TOWN HALL?). Trump then said, “You’re cute”. Apparently it didn’t go over so well with the suburban women he’s trying to attract.
I literally JUST watched that clip lol – and yeah. His treatment of her in that segment alone is not going to score him the women voters he desperately needs.
About as well as Pence talking over both Senator Harris and the moderator of his debate. These morons are losing women voters by the millions, and keep digging that hole.
Which is good.
All Trump does is whine and complain and pout about how badly he is treated. It’s unbelievable. The country is in the worst shape it has been in my lifetime, and I’m no kid, but he makes it all about himself. He sulks more than a teenager who got their cell phone taken away.
So I watched Biden, who was great, & taped Trump. We have DirecTV. This morning we decided to watch Trump. At the 6 minute mark the sound became a high pitched tone & lasted throughout the rest of the interview. Just the tone. It was as if the genie was like “nope, I refuse”
@becks1 He truly can’t help himself. He cannot feign politeness, or at the very least, hide his scorn, for women for an hour.
I am not from the US. and I am politely asking what makes people think trump will lose women voters for a “cute” comment when his puss* comments were revealed before the first elections not to mention his treatment of Hillary etc openly. I hope for your country you get a better leader and I cannot quiet believe the things trump has done and not been held accountable for.
Honestly, Savannah did a great job. I was truly impressed.
Better than Matt Lauer who was rude to Hillary in 2016. So glad lauer isn’t there to host. He’d fawn all over that one
November 4 – January 20 is going to be a hellscape. When Trump loses, will he have lame-duck session Barr try to indict Biden for something? I’m truly terrified right now. Like, I need whiskey for breakfast terrified.
I am terrified too, and all I can think is that Biden needs to win in such a landslide that it doesn’t matter. I’m actually nervous about the Senate – a lot of these senators are all “we support a peaceful transfer” but will they if they lose? If Lindsey Graham loses to Harrison, will he suddenly be crying “voter fraud” and refusing to step down?
Graham could do that, but that’s an issue for the voters of South Carolina to figure out. If there is strong vote to get him out, he will be out.
I’m terrified, and yet I’m slowly warming to the idea that some experts on malignant narcissism are pushing that if he loses badly enough, he’ll retreat to Maralago to nurse his wounds and refuse to come back. They’ve been pretty good at predicting his behavior thus far. A president who is MIA is a whole other set of problems, of course.
Fancy that sounds likely. and you’re right, that would bring a whole other set of problems. But does it beat him staying in DC and fomenting violence for 3 months? Or will he do that anyway from Florida. I don’t know. Please, January 20 cannot come fast enough.
Darla – my birthday is January 20. I am hoping Biden wins and it will be like a national holiday with all the celebrations.
If he loses I think he will flee the country. Both the SDNY & the City & State of New York are waiting. There may be a way (I stress maybe) out of the SDNY charges but not the state charges. He knows he has ONLY been able to hide his taxes due to his current position. Once it is gone so is any protection he currently enjoys. The question is who will take him.
Now that it is becoming more apparent that Biden has a serious chance of winning, my fears have moved on to what will happen in the months we’re left with Trump in the meantime. I hope he just leaves with his tail behind his legs, but there’s a reason he won’t shut up about voter fraud. He’s setting it up to be contested. I hope and pray that it’s such a landslide that he can’t say a word.
Once he loses, Trump will vacate in January. If he doesn’t the march to the WH will be epic.
They’ll just dump his stuff on the lawn if he doesn’t vacate. His term is up at noon on 1/20/21. He will no longer have access to the WH. He will enjoy some rights as a former president but the career WH workers and Secret Service agents will no longer have to do his bidding.
The Secret Service is pissed at him for exposing them all to COVID and making him do the ride around in the car. They will happily remove him.
Also, he can sit on the floor and throw a tantrum all he wants, if Biden wins and is sworn in, he’s POTUS no matter where he is, and assumes command.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes a run for it to another country, NY and the IRS are coming for him.
I read that Guthrie was the reality star last night.
Yeah, I watched it (both of them actually). For the most part, Savannah held firm, and insisted on answers (which means that 45 Fans think that she was a biassed bitch), and she got some unexpected ones – for instance, that the man-woman-camera guy who has boasted about having the best memory really can’t recall having a test the day of the first debate. The man with the very high IQ also said that he didn’t know much about QAnon. This surprised me, since I figured that such a narcissist would be right on top of a movement that viewed him as the saviour protecting us all from pedophelia and the Deep State. He also said that he did owe upwards of $400 million, but that it was “a peanut” amidst all his assets. To prove that no foreigners had leverage on him, he promised to release a list of his creditors, which I guess he will do with his tax returns, FLOTUS’s immigration record and a new health act. Best line of the night however belongs to Mary Trump who responded with one word to the “You’re not like someone’s crazy uncle” thing: “Actually”.
Then I started to watch Biden, but fell asleep in a calm tranquil nightmare-free sleep.
He knows exactly who Q-Anon is. He does this “oh I didn’t know, Mighty Fine Nazi’s on both sides” spiel with a wink-wink to his base. Long past time for a journalist to call him out on it.
Senile old man can’t remember if he was tested a month ago. Says he knows nothing about Qanon, then says things about Qanon. I just can’t.
The absolute most hilarious part was when Savannah immediately challenged him on his “85% of mask wearers get Covid” comment. He looked like a deer in the headlights when she came back with “I know that study. That’s not correct.” He’s so used to just spewing lies and ignoring reporters when they call him out on it and he couldn’t dodge this. He was stuck!
He underestimated Savannah. She’s a beautiful woman, so he forgot that she’s a lawyer and skilled at cross examination. He was stupid, angry, argumentative, and evasive. It was so peaceful to switch to ABC and watch Biden, a man who can help erase these past four years and restore dignity to our White House. I slept well last night.
YES! This completely. Trump totally underestimated Savannah’s competency because she’s a lovely woman on a morning show and she cleaned his clock, baby. I loved every minute of it.
My family of 3 wears masks and we haven’t gotten covid. We also don’t go anywhere but the mask isn’t to protect you its to protect others in case you are sick.
What about The chick dressed in red, over his shoulder, who nodded the whole time?
Good grief.
That plant was clearly orchestrated. .
As someone tweeted last night, a campaign employee finally earned their money.
She was completely distracting. Not that it’s a bad thing, considering who was talking in front of her. I only flipped over during commercial breaks, and she was nodding (or shaking) every time.
Why did people watch the Trump town hall? For the same reason we read this site for the latest on William and Kate, Leeann Rimes, reality stars, and on and in.
We all love a good train wreck, darling.
I did not watch Trump as I can’t stand to listen to him and still have PTSD from the debate. However what I am reading he did not win over any women. I am ashamed any women vote for this misogynistic pig.
Our Nielsen household kept our TV firmly on ABC last night.
Thank you!
I streamed ABC’s Biden town hall, as that’s the only way my viewing could count.
So now that their attempts to stiffle mail in voting have failed, the new Trumpster cry is “election interference” by FB and Twitter… for “censoring” distribution of that BS NyPosr story on Biden.
This better be a landslide.
There will be. Numbers as of yesterday:
Early votes cast at this point in the election:
2016: 1,400,000
2020: 17,360,907
Source: https://electproject.github.io/Early-Vote-2020G/index.html
Stunning numbers wow! I mean Georgia is in play…GEORGIA.
Georgia, and Texas is in play too! Biden also is very slightly ahead in Iowa. If turn out remains strong among the Democrats, and especially if first time voters and Independents show up for Biden, we might see some surprise states go blue.
Twitter is now going to allow the story to be posted with a warning on it. They folded to the pressure.
God damn it! That story is just a ball of crap and lies wrapped in GOP snot and tears. One of the things the new administration needs to do is work on regulating Big Tech. It is WAY past time. Although they’ll probably be busy cleaning up Trump’s messes, so it’s not like that will be happening anytime soon. So many dumpster fires.
I think it might be best not to give Trump ammunition at this point. If twitter and fb fold, then he can’t blame them for “interference” when he loses.
I think most people can see this is just “butter emails 2: this time we’re even more desperate.”
I still think he is the on steroids. Maybe even breathing treatments. He spoke yesterday afternoon and his voice was terrible (spoke to economic club of new york). How he went from his voice like that to his voice last night makes me think he gets drugged up for these big events.
there is no think, he definitely gets drugged up
I streamed the Biden town hall on four different devices last night to up viewership. I hope that worked. A kid on TikTok suggested it.
Damn I wish I had known. those TikTok kids, love them!
I voted yesterday to have his rear end removed from the White House! He is a disgusting orange oozing pile of lies and crazy.
I watched Biden but did flip the dial to Trump for a bit during a commercial break and did so in time for Trump to respond to the question about how he’d been in office for almost 4 years and had full GOP control over both houses of Congress for the first 2 years and yet while they’d gutted the individual mandate, he still hasn’t come up with a plan to replace ACA. His response was confirming they repealed the individual mandate & would repeal the ACA because of GOP control and that was it. He made it sound like those repeals are what they plan to replace ACA with: not a damn thing
I was watching the livestream, and I have never felt more whiplash than when I switched between Biden giving an in-depth description of his economic policy, and Trump giving some ridiculous story about a waiter playing with his mask. The townhalls absolutely epitomized the difference between the two, and I seriously cannot imagine anyone watching both of them and thinking Trump is worth re-electing. I feel like I’m on a different planet from some people.
Didn’t watch it last night because I knew all I’d have to do was check Twitter to see what trump stepped in.
I wasn’t disappointed.
This morning his followers are going after the narrator using their usual women hating slurs. It’s too much to be believed sometimes.
Oregonian who finally got my ballot in the mail yesterday. Will fill it out this weekend and drop it in a box next week! Really want to write something rude about Trump on it, but I’m sure that would invalidate it, so will restrain myself.
Hi Neighbor! I’m so paranoid I’m going to drop at elections office even though we are such a blue state.
Hi! I may drop mine off at a collection box at the hardware store up the road. Either that or maybe Multnomah County Library. I need to pick up a hold anyway. Library seems safer since the collection box just sits in the parking lot.
Hi neighbors! Usually mail mine but dropping it at the box at my library today. It feels good to vote generally but this year especially.
Well, it didn’t help Trump in the ratings… https://deadline.com/2020/10/joe-biden-tops-ratings-town-halls-donald-trump-abc-nbc-mlb-fox-dodgers-braves-1234598754/
I tried to watch it up here in Canada, but our ABC station played something else, while NBC had Trump. I waited for clips and twitter, did not watch Trump. I wished that we could have watched it though
Yes. media please focus on Joe Biden! don’t give trump any ratings
Trump was on more networks, but more people watched Biden. You know that it had to irked trump since he cares so much about ratings
As hopeful as I am that Trump will be defeated, the frightening fact is that he is just the festering symptom of a much bigger disease that exists in America. Getting rid of him is like cutting out a cancer, but without getting to the root cause of why he was voted in in the first place, there will be more like him in the future, if not worse.