Critics pan NBC town hall, Savannah Guthrie for 'debating' Trump, ABC for giving 'softballs' to Biden
By: Joseph A. Wulfsohn
Typical of the lamestream media we all hate. Not a surprise at all and yet Trump still did far better than sleepy Joe.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
'How long will NBC go before giving an actual voter the chance to ask a question?' pollster Frank Luntz asked
Critics piled on the NBC News town hall for what appeared to be a "debate" between President Trump and moderator Savannah Guthrie while the ABC News town hall lobbed "softballs" to Joe Biden .
Viewers who tuned into the Peacock Network expected to hear questions from voters, but similarly to the NBC town hall with Biden, questions for nearly the first 20 minutes of the program came from the moderator.
Guthrie spent much of that time grilling Trump on masks and white supremacy.
That didn't sit well with many.
"How long will NBC go before giving an actual voter the chance to ask a question?" pollster Frank Luntz asked, who later called the "town hall" descriptor of the program "false advertising."
"A third of the way into the NBC town hall and NO questions from the PEOPLE!!!" White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany exclaimed.
"Savannah Guthrie posture toward Trump compared to Lester Holt’s toward Biden is night and day," The Hill media reporter Joe Concha wrote, recalling the previous NBC town hall with the former VP.
"Trump went from debating Biden to Guthrie! Not sure whether this is good or bad yet ... but he's definitely debating tonight," CNN commentator Scott Jennings said.
"The questions from the NBC audience are actually pretty good and fair--so far--and it's only been Savannah Guthrie that has been awful," Daily Wire reporter Ryan Saavedra tweeted.
"The fake pretense of a 'town hall' when every aspect of it has been orchestrated in advance by the producers is such obnoxious BS," progressive journalist Michael Tracey wrote.
Meanwhile, over on ABC, NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck compared the first "softball" Biden received to the first question Trump received at his town hall last month.
Here's the first question of the ABC #BidenTownHall -- a softball from a committed Democrat lamenting 'the lack of coordinated federal action on COVID-19" from Trump. In contrast, Trump's first question from a so-called GOPer saying he threw 'vulnerable people...under the bus,'" Houck summarized.
Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh called out the disparency between both networks.
"These two town halls capture perfectly the difference in media treatment, Trump vs. Biden. ABC is doing everything they can to keep Joe Biden comfortable. Meanwhile, Savannah Guthrie is attacking the President like she openly hates him. Couldn’t be encapsulated better," Murtaugh tweeted.
Both NBC and ABC were previously scrutinized for what were described as "undecided" voters had previously expressed animus towards President Trump and favoritism towards Joe Biden.
NBC was blasted by liberals for scheduling its Trump town hall opposite of Biden's town hall on ABC.
Tags
Who is online
88 visitors
What a disservice it was to the American people for NBC to eclipse its Trump Townhall over ABC's Biden's Townhall. The voters should not have been forced to choose what to watch, but be able to have the opportunity to watch both candidates.
More than 100 Hollywood stars and producers – including Ava DuVernay, Billy Porter and Amy Schumer – signed a letter protesting NBC's decision to schedule Trump’s town hall .
I had Tump on 3 networks in TX including MSNBC.
Could not Biden anywhere, nor Thursday Night NFL football. Weird night.
and I was just the opposite. I had Biden on my local ABC channel but did not have Trump on local broadcast. ( I cut the cord years ago, don't miss it at all).
Oh no, the President should never interfere with the media's love fest with Biden/s
And just why in the holy hell does Biden get precedence over Trump? Why the poutrage? Shouldn't Trump and his camp be just as outraged? It was a choose your poison, so to speak, moment. Those who wanted to listen to either one should have been able to. My take is they are pissed because they know some of the left watched Trump just to diss him this morning and they missed Biden for it. Pretty sad they can't take a positive and feel the need to look for gotcha moments. And there is such a thing as a DVR or even the old VCR that can record. And then the old standby. Wait until the next morning when the MSM tells them what to think.
The NBC event that was supposed to allow people to ask questions was subverted by the radical left - surprise!
Joe Concha counted 43 questions from Guthrie. The number from the audience - 10.
That's what makes the left happy. They are less angry this morning. Less likely to riot.
And thus, the NBC event was the grand inquisition and the ABC event was the picnic.
Of course the Trump Train team will complain about Savannah Guthrie, she made Trump look worse than he usually does.
This townhall was a total trainwreck for the first half hour, with Trump refusing to denounce Q Anon and saying that people can make up their own minds if Biden ordered Seal Team Six assassinated.
The best thing you can say about Trump tonight was that he was more normal once the audience questions began, although still lying. The first 20 minutes or so was a complete disaster for trump.
You do realize that nobody ever reads your instagram posts right?
If you're objective you would have to admit - she debated the President.
It was the Trump- Guthrie debate!
If you're objective you would have to admit - the debate was Trump vs. Truth. And, as usual, the Truth won and Trump lost.
In normal terms, Biden handled himself admirably and Trump made a fool of himself and lied his ass off...
Gimme a break. Trump is sweaty, afraid, uninformed and paranoid. He doesn't know anything factual or grounded in reality.
I will admit that Trump in the NBC Townhall was at a disadvantage because he placed himself in a position to answer questions or concerns from everyday people instead of a one on one with Biden. However, this does not change the fact that even if you handed Trump a saucer full of marshmallows, which was what this Town Hall was, it was still far beyond his capability to honestly deal with it.
It took 20 minutes into the hour-long event before Guthrie even let the "everyday people" ask questions!
A couple of things. Trump did not condemn Qanon nor did he know much about them except that they don't like pedophles. So, there is that.
I know that Trump is aware that the ''unmasking'' yuge investigation by the DOJ turned up nothing. So when did this spying happen and who caught them. This October surprise turned out to be a dud.
Trump discussed COVID but I wonder if he is aware that it hasn't disappeared. Today the US recorded 65,129 new COVID cases and 874 deaths.
But....it has in the Trump fantasy land he lives in. Just ask any of his supporters...I am sure they know it has disappeared as well. Nothing more to worry about from now on. /s
Where was the question on the NY Post story for Biden?
How does Stephanopoulos get away with that?
It's a great racket he's a part of. Work for Democratic politicians, make friends and then cash out and get rewarded with a job as a "reporter" whose job is essentially the same as when he did PR for Clinton.
But he, like other Democratic pols in the media, is "objective"
They've done a great job if those polls can be believed.
It's amazing. They can just shut down a scandal that hurts their side. They don't have to debunk it. They don't have to explain anything. It doesn't matter if it's true. It just gets covered up like it doesn't exist.
Well if Trump's media can do it, why can't Biden's'? Trump's media has shut down/ignored several scandals, now they are whining, as usual, about what they have done many times.
What media do you imagine is Trump's? And which story did they refuse to cover?
Got popcorn?
Oh please! Fox is all in for Trump, so is Breibart, Limbaugh, I could go on and on.
As far as scandals all media covers them, it is a matter of to what extent, and the spin they use.
Trump's media downplayed the women who accused him of rape/assault, the Stormy Daniels scandal, news about his taxes, his ass kissing of Putin to the point of inviting him to G7 summit, his obnoxious comments about military and any ethic group except whites, the shutdown of Donald Trump Foundation due to fraud, same with Trump University, again, I could go on and on.
Oh, so you confuse you pundits and explicitly partisan providers for supposedly objective news reporters.
ndals all media covers them,
No, as the Hunter Biden story shows they don't. In fact, platforms like Twitter actively silence those who try to talk about them.
Well actually none of Trump media I named are news reporters, even Fox is not a news channel, but millions of people watch Fox and take their word as facts, so yes, it is a Trump platform.
It is your opinion that there are explicitly partisan providers for supposedly objective news reporters, I do not agree. Even MSNBC praises and criticizes people of all parties.
Twitter is not news, it is a social media, as such they can censor/disregard anything they want, if you or others continue to use them, like Trump does then deal with it.
No, platforms like Twitter actively silence those who try to lie about them as is their right. It just so happens that conservative Republicans and Trump sycophants lie a lot more than any democrat groups thus they get the lions share of censoring. Stop fucking lying and maybe they'll stop censoring.
Since Fox went on the air the GOP have learned that nothing succeeds like telling outrageous lies over and over and over again ad nauseum.
Trump and his advisors walked right into this, and as usual are now playing the victim. Seriously what did Trump expect, I mean really expect, not just what he and his advisors wanted to happen in their alternate universe. This is typical of Trump and his advisors, not grasping the reality of what they are doing, not having any well thought out plan. NBC played Trump, sucked him into a nightmare for him by playing to his ego, and his advisors are afraid to say no to him basically Trump got his way and looked mighty stupid...as usual.
Trump claimed during this townhall that his Covid response saved American lives because estimates were saying 2,000,000 could have died and when Guthrie pointed out that number is if nothing was done, Trump kept doubling down claiming his response was a success. Basically what Donald was claiming is that his response was 'better than nothing'.
Trump campaign slogans:
'Trump! Better than nothing!' (even though the majority definitely disagrees)
'Trump! What have you got to lose?' (our lives, jobs, environment, social cohesion, sanity)
'Trump! The buck never stops here!'
'Trump! White supremacist militias, Stand back and stand by!'
'Trump! If you're a Star, grab some pussy!'
'Trump! Pro-choice, until he needed conservatives votes!'
'Trump! It is what it is!'
'Trump! Herd Mentality!'