In the Town Hall

I was planning on blowing past this but my wife Andrea insisted on watching the Joe Biden town hall last night.

The plan originally was for Joe Biden and Donald Trump were to have their second debate in a town hall format. After Trump's positive COVID-19 test and subsequent hospitalization, the debate commission chose to make the debate a virtual one with the candidates in separate locations. Trump said no and the debate was called off.

In lieu of said debate, ABC offered Joe Biden a prime time slow to hold a town hall. Biden agreed. 

Then Donald Trump went all Veruca Salt and demanded his own town hall too! NBC complied and gave Trump the exact same time slot as Biden. 

The upshot was another bid by Trump at exacerbating divisions. Instead of Americans coming together at one time to assess both candidates at the same time, Trump was forcing a choice of which candidate America would watch in real time.

Narcissist that he is, Li'l Donnie figures he'll get better TV ratings than "Sleepy Joe" and can brag about it later as proof of his popularity. 

Here in the Fortress of Ineptitude, there was no real choice. We watched Joe Biden who had specific policy answers to specific policy questions. 

Biden did something that Trump never does which is concede to an error; specifically, the 1994 crime bill that then Senator Biden helped to get passed that wound up incarcerating a disproportionate number of African Americans. 

 Yes, Joe continues to tap dance around the whole court packing question but he made an effort as to why he thinks it's not appropriate to answer that question while the Senate is currently reviewing a new Supreme Court nominee. He concedes that the American people deserve an answer to his position on court packing and will have one before election day.  This is still a shaky political position Biden is in and he will need to address it sooner rather than later. 

Still, Joe Biden connected with each person who posed a question and endeavored to provide as detailed a response as possible. 

The most remarkable thing about Joe Biden's town hall was at the end when... it didn't end. As reporters assessed the events of the last hour or so both with Biden and with Trump in his competing event, the camera showed Joe Biden still present in the hall, still chatting with the voters. 

By contrast, Donald Trump skedaddled out as soon as the town hall event was over.  

While I avoided the Trump event, morbid curiosity compelled me to find out what happened there. 

It seems Trump was, well, Trump, being his usual angry, combative, aggressive self. Seriously, we need to get rid of Donald Trump not just for being a danger to democracy but also for being boring. The dude needs new material. Look, you've seen one Donald Trump bombastic meltdown, you have seen them all. 

Moderator Samantha Guthrie was not having his shit but that stop Li'l Donnie from still shovelling it out. He denied knowledge of Quanon, the loony tunes conspiracy movement but lashed out at Antifa and liberal Democrats burning down cities led by Democrat mayors.  

With a death toll of 217,000 Americans, Trump still thinks he's done an amazing job handling the coronavirus pandemic. 

I don't know if Li'l Donnie's fragile ego can handle this but he had a significant challenge to his role as star of his town hall.  

Right behind Donald Trump, almost always in the shot was an  audience member wearing a red face mask who constantly nodded in assent to everything Trump said.

The internet dubbed her "Nodding Lady".

I personally would've opted for "MAGA Bobble Head". 

Journalist Katie Couric tweeted, "The woman to @realDonaldTrump's right keeps nodding her head, which I find very distracting."

Watching only a few moments of clips from Trump's town hall, I found this woman very distracting indeed.  

The Miami Herald identified "Nodding Lady" as Mayra Joli, an immigration lawyer, five-time beauty queen and Trump supporter. 

The two town halls were a study in contrasts. Trump was combative, divisive and self centered. Biden was relaxed with a message of unity and empathy. 

If there is any hope and goodness left in this world, I hope anyone who hasn't a made a decision yet can see the choice for the best of these two men to lead the United States is Joe Biden.