US Elections 2020: Trump, Biden Offer Different Visions At Town Halls

In a split-screen display, United States (US) voters heard dramatically different visions from President Donald Trump and his democratic challenger, Joe Biden, at dueling town hall-style events on Thursday night, less than three weeks before the election.

The president only agreed to the forum after Biden’s campaign set up theirs, with events airing simultaneously on different networks

Appearing at the same time on different channels from different battleground states, Trump and Biden answered questions from voters instead of participating in what was scheduled to be the second of three presidential debates in Miami.

But the unusual evening, a fitting coda to a campaign unlike any in modern history, allowed the candidates to present themselves to voters in a different format after their chaotic debate last month.

Speaking on NBC News from the Pérez Art Museum in Miami, a combative Trump defended his handling of the pandemic that has killed more than 215,000 Americans, while inaccurately claiming the nation was “rounding the corner” in its fight against the virus.

“We’re a winner,” he told moderator, Savannah Guthrie, who challenged his assertions. “We have done an amazing job. And it’s rounding the corner. And we have the vaccines coming and we have the therapies coming.”

Nearly 1,200 miles away, at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Biden slammed the president’s response and called for a far more robust national response during a town hall with ABC News.

“He missed enormous opportunities and kept saying things that weren’t true,” Biden said, noting that Trump acknowledged to the journalist Bob Woodward in February that coronavirus was “more deadly than even your strenuous flus”.

“The president was informed how dangerous this virus was,” the former vice-president said.

Perched on a stool outside the museum in Miami, Trump, who was only recently released from the hospital after being diagnosed with the coronavirus, was evasive about whether he had been tested on the day of the their first debate, as were required for each candidate. “Possibly I did, possibly I didn’t,” he said.

Loud and combative, Trump sparred repeatedly with Guthrie, who challenged him as he unfurled a litany of false claims about voter fraud in the US, which he offered as a potential rationale for not accepting the results of the November election.

“They talk about, ‘Will you accept a peaceful transfer?’ And the answer is yes, I will – but I want it to be an honest election, and so does everybody else,” Trump said.

Notably, Trump refused to disavow QAnon, claiming he knew nothing about the conspiracy theory group except that “they are very much against pedophilia”. “I just don’t know about Qanon,” Trump said.

“You do know,” Guthrie shot back.

“I don’t know,” he said again.

Just days before, Trump tweeted a false claim by the group that alleged President Barack Obama fabricated the killing of Osama bin Laden, prompting a rebuke from a member of the Seal Team Six that participated in the mission.

Asked why he elevated this conspiracy theory, Trump downplayed any responsibility, insisting that he was simply sharing “an opinion of somebody”.

“You’re the President!” Guthrie exclaimed. “You’re not like someone’s crazy uncle who can retweet whatever.”

The evening wasn’t entirely confrontational for Trump.

“You’re so handsome when you smile,” a voter named Paulette told the President, who smiled bashfully and thanked her before deflecting her question on immigration.

Seated comfortably in a plush chair onstage, Biden, earnest if discursive, engaged with the voters seated in the auditorium, who asked him about his plans for the virus, taxes and the supreme court.

Joe Biden with moderator and ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos in Philadelphia on Thursday. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

Biden again refused to state his position on court-packing, telling moderator George Stephanopoulos that he had previously opposed the idea of adding additional justices the court.

But he left the door open to changing his mind, depending on how Senate Republicans handle the confirmation of the supreme court nominee Amy Coney Barrett in the coming weeks.

Asked if voters would have a clear understanding of his position before election day, Biden said they would.

“They do have a right to know where I stand,” he said. “And they’ll have a right to know where I stand before they vote.”

Pressed on his role authoring the 1994 crime bill, and the impact it had on mass incarceration, Biden conceded that elements of it were a “mistake” but argued that conditions had changed “drastically” since the law was passed.

In a poignant moment, Biden was asked by the mother of a trans daughter what he would to protect LGBTQ rights.

“I will flat out just change the law,” Biden said, vowing that a Biden administration would work to ensure her daughter had the same rights and opportunities as her other daughter.

The candidates were originally scheduled to square off in Miami, until Trump abruptly withdrew from the forum after the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates announced it would be held remotely due to concerns the US president might still be infectious with coronavirus. Shortly afterward, the Biden campaign proceeded to set up a telecast with ABC News in Philadelphia and the commission formally cancelled the debate.

But Trump, slipping farther behind in national and battleground state polling, was unwilling to cede the prime-time coverage to his opponent.

On Wednesday, NBC news announced that it would hold a town hall with Trump in Miami on Thursday night, at the same time ABC will air its forum with Biden. – The Guardian