17 October 2020

Feet to the Fire

On Wednesday night, Donald Trump appeared in a town hall on NBC. The event was hastily scheduled at the last minute with Trump attempting to pull coverage away from his electoral rival Joe Biden, whose own town hall on the ABC network that had been scheduled nearly two weeks ago after Trump backed out of the debates.

Instead of besting Biden, however, Trump's event saw him facing a ruthless grilling like he's never had before. His deranged, haranguing performance was a stark contrast to Biden's measured, reassuring appearance.

Some commentators have contrasted Biden with seeming warm and reassuring like Mister Rogers while Trump came across like a psychotic crazy uncle.

Trump possibly thought his appearance would be a softball interview, given the moderator was Savannah Guthrie, a host on the safe and sugary Today show. If so, he failed to do his homework, because Guthrie was a highly successful and ruthless litigator before she became a journalist.

Indeed, it was litigator Guthrie who sat across from Trump during the live broadcast, not sugar cookie Guthrie (details here)

She brilliantly fact checked his lies on the spot. She nailed his feet to the floor when she threw his bizarre conspiracy theories in his face. She was, in a word, magnificent. You can see a three-minute sample here. If you can stomach an hour of Trump lies, you can watch the whole thing here.

Rarely has a journalist stood up to Trump like Guthrie did on Wednesday night and never for a extended period of time like she was able to do. If only more journalists had done this when he was first running for office.

Not surprising, of the uncommitted voters in the audience surveyed after the event, not a single one said they were now voting for Trump. As one Republican pollster said yesterday, every time Trump opens his mouth, he loses more voters.

Good. Keep talking, Donny.

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IMPORTANT!

Voter registration closes Monday in Michigan and Pennsylvania. If you live in one of these two states and are not yet registered, please register online immediately. Click here to do that. Please do this right now. Don't wait another minute.

Residents in some other states can also register online using the same link above because you still have a little more time. Registration has already closed in some states, however.

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