An evening dilemma: Watch Biden on ABC at 8 p.m. or Trump on NBC at 8 p.m.? The case for watching Biden is that he’s likely, at least in theory, to be pressed on the Hunter Biden allegations published yesterday by the New York Post and the ensuing blackout of the story by Facebook and Twitter. I say “at least in theory” because the moderator this evening is former Clinton apparatchik George Stephanopoulos. How hard is George going to try to corner his own guy candidate when they’re sitting on a big lead with less than three weeks to Election Day?
There *might* be some tension during the Biden townhall. There *will* be some tension during the Trump townhall.
And maybe not a small amount either:
Enormous pressure on NBC now to make this thing a nightmare for Trump.
— Ben Smith (@benyt) October 15, 2020
There is indeed some pressure on NBC to turn this into a sh*tshow for the president, not just for the usual partisan reasons but because of the outrage at NBC for scheduling Trump opposite Biden tonight. That outrage has now taken the form of a petition signed by more than a hundred “top Hollywood players,” some of whom work for NBC, complaining about the timing.
This is not a partisan issue. This is about the political health of our democracy.
President Trump refused to participate in the virtual debate scheduled for Thursday night by the Presidential Debate Commission. By agreeing to air his town hall as counterprogramming opposite Vice President Biden’s town hall on ABC, you are enabling the President’s bad behavior while undercutting the Presidential Debate Commission and doing a disservice to the American public.
We believe this kind of indifference to the norms and rules of our democracy are what have brought our country to this perilous state.
Their goal isn’t really to get NBC to move the townhall to 9 p.m. The goal is to work the refs and, as Smith said, force the network to make it up to them by turning this evening into a costly one for Trump.
Sounds like he’s already in the spirit:
Trump shits on NBC at length and Chuck Todd and Savannah Guthrie in particular just ahead of his town hall on the network tonight pic.twitter.com/6Sjl3ttsX3
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 15, 2020
Should be a zesty evening, worth watching if only to relish Savannah Guthrie’s no-win predicament. Either she’s tough on Trump and will be shredded by righties on social media later or she’s easy on Trump and will be shredded by lefties.
Townhall Media editors will be watching and tweeting throughout the proceedings. The window below will update automatically as they do. Comments are open.
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