Dueling town hall meetings with the two Presidential candidates took place on Thursday evening offering a stark contrast to voters between the major party leaders. Democratic nominee Joe Biden responded to voter questions alongside host George Stephanopoulos on the ABC network while President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee sparred with members of his audience and anchor Savannah Guthrie at NBC. The town halls aired at exactly the same time after Trump pulled out of a debate with Biden that had been scheduled for Thursday evening. Among the notable moments during Trump’s town hall, Guthrie asked him to condemn the bizarre conspiracy cult-like group called QAnon that insists Democrats are part of a satanic pedophile ring and that supports Trump. The President, as he often does when asked to denounce controversial supporters, claimed to not know who they are.  At the same time that Trump was defending QAnon, Mr. Biden was asked to comment on Trump and the wearing of protective masks during the pandemic.  

NBC’s Savannah Guthrie also asked Trump why he repeatedly retweets conspiracies to his millions of followers including a new one about Biden. As Trump defended his actions Guthrie reminded him that he is the president, not “someone’s crazy uncle.” Throughout the town hall Trump claimed “antifa” and “radical leftists” were the real problem and source of violence. Meanwhile, The Guardian newspaper published a timely reminder of the various instances of violence linked to QAnon, the group Trump defended. The paper listed numerous documented reports of violence including kidnapping and murder. Meanwhile on the same day as the town halls, a white supremacist man pled guilty to a federal hate crime for plotting to blow up a synagogue in Pueblo, Colorado. Trump made no mention of it or other white supremacist violence which his own government has deemed to be the greatest source of domestic terrorism and violence. 

Meanwhile Biden, during his ABC town hall was asked to comment on the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett and whether he would consider increasing the size of the court in order to bring more balance to what could be a conservative supermajority. He said he remained skeptical of the idea. Biden has said he would likely reveal to voters what his plan is for the court before the election. The Republican controlled Senate is rushing to confirm Barrett and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell says he has the votes to push it through in the next few days even as millions of Americans have cast their ballots in the election. California Senator Dianne Feinstein, appearing to not take seriously the extreme rightward tilt to the court for decades has come under fire from liberals and progressives for her weak posturing. Feinstein is the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee and at the end of the Senate hearings this week claimed, in contrast to her colleagues, “This has been one of the best set of hearings that I’ve participated in.” She then proceeded to hug Senate Judiciary Cha...