The Weird Biden and Trump Town Halls

Last night, I decided to watch the Trump town hall. I figured that Biden would be lobbed softballs, that he’d either sit relaxed or meander across the stage, and that it would be a sleepy affair. Trump’s town hall would be a different story. He’d be badgered by the “moderator,” and he’d be asked tough and inane questions.

Everything was exactly as I expected. This doesn’t make me some political Svengali. It makes me a rational observer of the last four years; heck, of the last 20. The media is wholly Democrat and makes it their mission to help Democrats and defeat Republicans. Every Republican has to beat not only their political opponents but their media opponents as well. This year is no different. It’s just heightened because Joe Biden is a shuffling, addled, elderly man who is no shape to be president of the United States. COVID is a nice excuse for him to stay home. The fact is that it’s obvious Joe Biden has to stay home. He simply doesn’t have the energy for campaigning. The media knows this reality so has been in overdrive to help the poor old man bring the election home. The newscasts are a 24/7 in-kind Biden donation.

During the debate season, the media has simply taken over Biden’s job. Chris Wallace attacked Trump as if he were 12 points down in the polls. Former Biden intern and currently on-leave C-SPAN moderator Steve Scully accidentally tweeted publicly to a known Trump-hater. Laughably, he said that he was hacked. Even more guffaw-inducing was the fact that guys like Chris Wallace and Frank Luntz jumped in to defend this obvious lie. Scully later admitted he lied (duh) and was put on leave. The fact is, though, that Scully should never have been a moderator. That none of the moderators are moderate. And most certainly none of the moderators are fair.

Instead of a debate last night (which could have happened because Trump was fine health-wise, but the supposedly non-partisan debate organization decided, by fiat, to cancel it) there were dueling town halls. Biden on ABC with Clinton sycophant George Stephanopoulos. Trump with Georgetown standout attorney Savannah Guthrie. Most of the media and Biden’s campaign were angry with NBC for stomping on Biden’s grandpa story time. The pressure was on Guthrie to prove her Democrat worth. Never fear, she came through!

Trump sat leaning forward on a stool, looking sharp and energetic as ever. This was to be a town hall guided by questioners in the audience. It didn’t start out that way. Instead, Guthrie barraged Trump with bogus, unhelpful questions that satiated the Twitter media types but illuminated precisely nothing. She asked Trump to denounce racism. Again. She asked Trump to denounce white nationalists. Again. Even when he did, and unequivocally, it was like she couldn’t hear him. He said it again.

A brief interlude about communications here. Do you know why the Democrats keep asking that question when Trump has so clearly answered it over and over? The reason is to introduce the idea into the listeners’ minds. They’re planting seeds and watering them every time they say the words “white nationalist.” They are purposefully trying to connect Trump with the idea. It’s why they keep coming back to it. Trump has to say the words “I denounce white nationalism,” and in doing so says the words he does not want to say because they’re abhorrent and reinforces an evil idea in people’s minds. It’s why he resists the question. He is a master communicator and knows what they’re doing. It’s an evil game, and he is forced into a no-win position. If he refuses to answer, they say that he’s racist. If he answers, he enforces the association between him and an evil idea.

To further spell this out, I’ll give another example of this. Imagine you are asked, “When did you last beat your wife?” Well, you’ve never beaten your wife. But you have to say the words, “I’ve never beaten my wife.” Just saying the words puts the idea in the listener’s mind.

So Guthrie, being the legal eagle and Democrat she is, followed up that very important question with one on Q-Anon. Who even knows what Q-Anon is besides the hyperventilating media class? Trump says that he heard they’re against pedophilia and that he’s against that but that he doesn’t really know about them. Guthrie tries to explain it to him. But Trump rightly doesn’t accept her framing because who knows if what she is saying is true. Then the media headlines say things like “TRUMP REFUSES TO DENOUNCE Q-ANON!”

Again, this isn’t about illuminating anything. This is about planting ideas in the minds of voters. Right on cue, Mitt Romney gravely intones against Q-Anon in a statement today. As if he even knows what it’s about. I spent one insomniac night trying to understand what Q-Anon was and came out of that night tired and quite sure that JFK Jr. is still dead but that some people think he was Santa in a parade. I kid you not. Why would the president of the United States spend five minutes on such nuttiness? He has other things to do, in case the idiot media hadn’t noticed. The question is absurd.

The rest of the hour, where the president interacted with voters, was fine. He was warm and engaging with them. Guthrie, though, did her job.

The president did well enough that Twitter fools were obsessed with the black woman behind the president who was nodding along to his answers. Doxx her! There will be an exposé soon. Yes, that’s a thing that’s happening.

At this point, if anyone is undecided, they’re looking at form and style. The president looked healthy, strong, and engaged.

Now, over to Biden. I caught the last half hour of his town hall. I was struck by how old, feeble, and slow he was. His speech was just agonizingly labored. After the talk, I saw an earpiece in his left ear again. He ended the hour and half talking about “if he loses.” It was bizarre. Even if a candidate thinks he’s going to lose, he doesn’t acknowledge it. For a guy 12 points ahead, why is he talking about losing?

Trump, in contrast, was confident he was going to win. In the strangeness of this election, I don’t know what to think. I really don’t. Is Biden bluffing? Is Trump? Is the enthusiasm for Trump a phantasm? Are people fired up about voting for a creaky old guy who fumbles around and is utterly corrupt? I don’t know. It’s just the weirdest election ever.

Last night was as expected but ended weirdly. If Trump wins, he’ll have the media’s incessant hatred to thank for it. They are hostile and deranged. Meanwhile, during the town halls, Tucker Carlson expounded on Biden graft and schemes. Biden is wholly owned by China and connected to Russian money through Ukraine. He’s everything Trump has been accused of and isn’t. Of the three shows, hopefully Tucker’s was watched most.

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