Dueling Town Halls Replace Presidential Debate

It’ll be dueling town hall events on Thursday instead of a debate. After refusing to participate in the scheduled second presidential debate of the 2020 cycle, Donald Trump has agreed to take part in an NBC News town hall event on Thursday at the same time former Vice President Joe Biden will take questions in an ABC News town hall to be hosted by George Stephanopoulos.

From NBC News: The town hall, moderated by “TODAY” anchor Savannah Guthrie, will take place on the same evening — and at the same time — that Joe Biden is doing his own town hall event in Philadelphia on ABC News at 8 p.m. ET.

Trump and Biden were supposed to hold their second debate on Thursday night, but Trump pulled out after organizers announced it was going to be conducted virtually. The last presidential debate is scheduled for next Thursday, Oct. 22.

During the one-hour town hall with Trump on Thursday, Guthrie will moderate a conversation between Trump and a group of Florida voters.

I know Trump loves to hear about his ratings. Because his NBC News town hall will be simulcast on CNBC and MSNBC, I’ll go ahead and predict he’ll probably get more viewers given the wider reach of three networks. But in the end, I doubt these events will change any voter’s mind.