Donald Trump | Graphic by Dylan Collison | The Wright State Guardian
On Thursday night, President Donald Trump took the stage at a town hall event in Miami. The event was broadcasted live on NBC and was moderated by “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie. The town hall featured questions from a wide array of voters leaning towards one candidate or genuinely undecided.
Trump and the coronavirus
Guthrie wasted no time in pressing President Trump on when he last tested negative for the coronavirus. She asked about his illness in previous days, including if he took a test the day of the first presidential debate.
President Trump gave vague answers to all the questions saying “well, I test quite a bit…I don’t know, I don’t even remember. I test all the time. But I can tell you this, after the debate…I tested positive.”
Guthrie also raised concerns about the Rose Garden ceremony held in honor of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Trump’s rallies, and the consistent lack of precautions the White House appears to be taking.
President Trump deflected these concerns to the two recent positive cases from Senator Kamala Harris’s staff.
“She’s got people now, people have it, and I’m not blaming her. I’m not saying, ‘Oh, she did a terrible thing,'” said Trump. “As President, I have to be out there. I can’t be in a basement. I can’t be locked in a very beautiful room someplace in the White House.”
Throughout the night, Guthrie followed the lead of Fox News’ Chris Wallace and was quick to call out President Trump on his falsehoods. In regards to masks, the President said “they came out with a statement that 85% of the people that wear masks catch it. So this is a very-” and Guthrie cut him off saying “It didn’t say that. I know that study.”
Trump and Twitter
The President recently retweeted a QAnon conspiracy theory that claimed President Obama had Navy SEALs killed to cover up an Osama bin Laden body double killed in 2011.
“I don’t get that. You’re the president. You’re not like someone’s crazy uncle who can just retweet whatever,” said Guthrie.
President Trump responded that he had never heard of QAnon, despite having acknowledged them in an Aug. 19, 2020 press briefing. The president was also unable to condone their radical conspiracy theories about Democrats and instead said “I denounce Antifa, and I denounce these people on the left that are burning down our cities, that are run by Democrats who don’t know what they’re doing”.
Transfer of power
Guthrie’s final question was regarding if Trump would ensure a peaceful transfer of power.
Trump ignored the question and laid false claims of voter fraud.
“When I see thousands of ballots, right? Unsolicited ballots, being given out by the millions, and thousands of them are dumped in dumpsters. And when you see ballots with the name Trump…And they’re dumped in garbage cans,” said Trump.
Guthrie pointed out that there is no actual evidence that this is happening.
“Your own FBI director says there is no evidence of widespread fraud,” said Guthrie
After intensely pushing for an answer, Trump finally gave.
“The answer is, yes, I will. But I want it to be an honest election,” said Trump. “And so does everybody else. When I see thousands of ballots dumped in a garbage can, and they happen to have my name on it? I’m not happy about that.”
Student opinions
“In contrast to Joe Biden, who gave the best performance in his campaign thus far, Trump seemed to squander his final chance to make an impression on last-minute undecided voters,” said Wright State University senior Political Science major Leah Dryden.
“Trump was questioned in ways that you don’t normally see him… It was refreshing to see a moderator fact check in real-time,” said senior International Politics major Ivan Mallett.
