As you are probably aware President Trump had a town hall on NBC News tonight with Savannah Guthrie moderating. It happened after the debate fell apart a town hall was used instead. Joe Biden was doing his at the same time but I couldn't watch both so I just watched President Trump.
Overall, I think it was a good event for President Trump. Unlike the last debate he was a lot more respectful and serious then he was at the last debate. Though Guthrie interrupted him a lot he didn't really fight with her. He showed a more human side and did a good job at behaving himself a little bit. Forgive me for saying this, but in the last debate he came off as mean and maybe even a bit of an "asshole". This debate he was still Trump, but a more likeable less angry one. Plus he showed a bit of the classic Trump humor than helped get him elected.
He also fixed many of the criticisms people had of the first debate. He was much more forceful in denouncing White Supremacy, which he kind of flubbed in the last debate. He also made sure to point out that he does support a peaceful transfer of power should it be necessary while at the same time pointing out that Democrats never did the same thing for him. This is huge for him because I don't think the left can really say he hasn't denounced White Supremacy or that he won't accept the results of the election, which have been major attacks on him. I know that it has to be tiring to have to answer the same stupid question again and again even after denouncing it many times but he didn't handle it well in the first debate and did a much better job this time.
Trump looked good and healthy too. This is the first time a lot of people are seeing him since he got diagnosed with Coronavirus and I think he may have reassured people that were worried the virus might have taken a large toll on him. He looks fine to me and I don't think anyone has to worry too much about his health. Other then the normal concerns you would have for a man of his age, of course.
As for the answers to the questions, I think he did good enough. Some of them were pretty dumb questions, like the one on his taxes which have been asked and answered many times. But I think that Trump answered most of the questions in a fair and decent way. I do think he could have been a little more clear on the facemask issue as he tried to say that he both supports them and doesn't think they really work that well. I think that's a defensible position but he didn't argue for it all that strongly.
As for the moderation, it wasn't the best. Guthrie was much better than Chris Wallace but I still thought some of her questions were unfair and I didn't like how she interrupted President Trump so much. But I do think that at least she got some decent questions from the public and at least showed the President some amount of respect. I don't think she did great but I give her some credit for at least trying to be fair. Compared to Chris Wallace she was great, which isn't saying much.
The people that asked the question were pretty good. They were all respectful and had decent questions. Not all of them were ones that I would ask but I thought they were good enough. I did think it was hilarious that the last woman mentioned how pretty Donald Trump's smile was. It was a bit surreal but I actually think she did the President a favor as it was a humanizing moment for him.
A few other issues came up. One of them was QAnon of all things. President had to walk a fine line there as he doesn't want to denounce his most rabid supporters but at the same time doesn't want to be liable if one of them goes off of the reservation and does something evil. He did a decent job and framed it as not really knowing too much about them but agreeing that pedophilia is a serious problem. Is he being honest about not knowing about them? Probably not, but I will give him a pass. I don't think the QAnon folks are bad people, just misguided and not actually wrong about the elite being full of pedophiles, even if they are wrong on a lot of the details.
The question on Roe vs Wade might get him into trouble with pro life people. I think they wanted to hear that he wants Roe vs Wade overturned and they might be upset that he doesn't want to influence Amy Coney Barrett (or Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch). I think he is right to do so as he's right, he shouldn't be influencing the court that way, but they might not like the answer. Still, I can't imagine them voting for Joe Biden instead.
Overall I think this was a good event for President Trump. He showed a more human side and wasn't rude like he was in the last debate. He showed a more human side and did a decent job answering the questions. He wasn't perfect but the difference was night and day compared to the last debate. He may have won over a few voters who may have been shaky on him and I think he made a strong argument for why he should have a 2nd term.
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