Better NBC host a townhall than Fox, if it's regular folks asking questions and a good NBC moderator, Donald will self destruct with ego defense and trying to get that big ego through the moment and off the stage. Donald has a lot to defend and if he starts interrupting moderators and voters, it will not go well for Trump. News shows will be comparing and contrasting clips and highlights (lowlights too) the next day and the pundits will weigh in.
When NBC set out to schedule a television town hall with President Trump, the top priorities were safety and parity with Trump's challenger Joe Biden.
www.cnn.com
NBC schedules Trump town hall at the same time as Biden's on ABC, sparking outrage
New York (CNN Business)When NBC set out to schedule a television town hall with President Trump, the top priorities were safety and parity with Trump's challenger Joe Biden.
The network's Biden town hall went off without a hitch in Miami, Florida on October 5. NBC's plans for Trump are almost identical: The same outdoor venue in Miami, the same 8 p.m. time slot, the same 60-minute allotment of time.
But there is one big difference: ABC already announced it will be holding a town hall with Biden at the same time on the same night.
So now NBC is "giving Trump exactly what he wants," in the words of one exasperated senior staffer: a made-by-TV rivalry between the president and Biden.
NBC is hearing a chorus of criticism for its scheduling decision -- from liberal activists, working journalists, professors, former NBC executives, and even some current NBC Entertainment stars.
Some staffers inside NBC News and MSNBC are also perturbed by the decision, with some likening it to collusion between the Trump campaign and the network, sources said. No one from the news division has publicly criticized the move.
The dueling town halls will air Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern time, on the same night that the Commission on Presidential Debates was originally scheduled to hold a town hall-style debate between Trump and Biden.
Now, instead, the two men will talk past each other on competing networks.
"Having dueling town halls is bad for democracy," former NBC "Today" show star Katie Couric tweeted Wednesday. "Voters should be able to watch both and I don't think many will. This will be good for Trump because people like to watch his unpredictability. This is a bad decision."
Let's take a step way back and see how this conflict erupted.