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(CNN) – On ABC, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was explaining his plan to raise taxes on those who earn more than $ 400,000 per year. On NBC, President Donald Trump was evading about the existence of a satanic cult of pedophiles.
The problem with their forums, which were drastically different in tone and substance, was that Americans could only choose one to view.
With the second presidential debate canceled in the wake of Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis, the two candidates instead agreed to hold nationally televised forums. Biden answered questions from voters in Philadelphia and Trump did so in Miami. The two are scheduled to debate just one more time.
Here are five takeaways from the forum duel:
Trump’s alternate reality
No time has better illustrated the alternate reality that Trump exists in than Thursday’s 60-minute forum.
Trump claimed that the science is still misplaced on wearing masks. This, despite the universal view of health experts, even within his own administration, that it can mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
He declined to say whether or not he believed Democrats were running a satanic pedophile ring. He would shrug when pressed and just say, “I have no idea.”
He claimed without evidence that ballots with his name had been found in trash cans.
And he did not claim that a conspiratorial tweet he retweeted stating that Osama Bin Laden is still alive is false, saying that “people can decide for themselves.”
“I don’t understand that,” said moderator Savannah Guthrie after that latest escape. “You are the president, not someone’s crazy uncle.”
Within Trump’s usual venues of conservative television and Twitter, the upside-down world he lives in sometimes loses its impact. But in the face of everyday voters, their responses seemed far removed from any accepted version of reality. Voters who decide between Trump and Biden find themselves choosing less between two candidates than between two completely opposite planets.
LEEWARD: ANALYSIS | The strong contrast between Trump and Biden that showed the duel of forums
Trump vs. Guthrie
Since leaving the hospital, Trump has been calling media friendly to him to tell of his ordeal and tear Biden apart. During the past week, he called Fox News or Fox Business five times, along with talks on Newsmax and Rush Limbaugh.
The warmth of a conservative safe space is where Trump has thrived for most of his presidency. When he appeared on the set of NBC, things felt a lot colder.
A lawyer by training, Guthrie wouldn’t budge when Trump dodged questions about his coronavirus diagnosis, whether he was tested on the day of the last debate, his stance on white supremacism, his views on QAnon or his views on voting by mail.
Trump was running a forum rather than a debate by choice; withdrew from a second confrontation with Biden when the Presidential Debate Committee insisted it be virtual. But the result was 20 minutes of contentious live interrogation with only him in the limelight, a rarity for a president who is primarily attached to his friends in the conservative media.
Without a rival on stage, Trump was alone in answering the questions. And he had no opponent to splash with his own attacks. Instead, Trump found himself on the defensive and increasingly angry. He even scoffed at a Guthrie question by calling it “cute.”
It’s the kind of move some of Trump’s advisers hoped to avoid. This, recognizing that it is this type of behavior that has discouraged women voters and older people. During one of the business breaks, Trump’s chief strategic communications officer, Alyssa Farah, came out and spoke with Guthrie before joining other attendees to speak with the president.
Trump seemed more moderate in answering questions from forum participants. But the ease of conducting four years of friendly interviews became apparent when it came time for his final question. Why should voters give him a second term? Rather than state what he would do differently, Trump listed only what he had accomplished so far and concluded with, “Next year will be better than ever.”
The contrast with Biden’s policy focus
The contrast between the candidates’ approaches and the topics of their forums was dramatic. Especially when they were faced with controversial comments they had made in the past.
A clear window into Biden’s tactics in a forum setting, with voters pushing him one by one, came when a young black man recalled the former vice president’s comment to radio host Charlamagne tha God that if anyone was hesitating between deciding to support him him or Trump, “you’re not black.”
“Besides’ you’re not black, ‘” the man asked, “how could Biden convince black voters to participate’ in a system that has failed to protect them?”
Rather than address his controversial comment, Biden delved into a multi-minute litany of specific policies aimed at helping blacks. On his list were: 1. Triple Title I funding for low-income schools. 2. Assist first-time homebuyers with a $ 15,000 down payment credit so low-income families can begin to build wealth. 3. $ 70 billion in new funding for historically black colleges and universities. 4. and government-backed loans for young black entrepreneurs.
When asked if he had heard enough, the young man replied, “Uh, I think so.” So Biden offered to continue their conversation after the forum ended.
It was one of a series of lengthy responses from Biden on Thursday night. And he underscored Biden’s style and his efforts to use the forum to focus on how his plans would affect ordinary Americans. It’s the implicit contrast that Biden has long sought to offer voters. Sobriety in the face of Trump’s bombast. And a connection to the concerns of low- and middle-income Americans who, according to him, have been ignored by Trump.
Trump’s senior campaign adviser Mercedes Schlapp tweeted during Biden’s forum that watching him “feels like I’m watching an episode of Mister Rodgers Neighborhood.” That was exactly the tone Biden was looking for.
LOOK: Biden leads Trump by 11 points in voting intention, according to latest poll
Biden’s position on adding court seats ‘depends’
Biden did not clarify his position Thursday night on the push by some progressives to add seats to the Supreme Court, but said he would do so before the election.
Pressed on an issue he has largely avoided since Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to fill the post of the late liberal Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Biden said he is “not a fan” of adding court seats. But what if he finally changes his mind “depends on how this turns out” and “if there really is a real, live debate in plenary” in the Senate on Barrett’s confirmation.
If that doesn’t happen and Republicans are quick to confirm Barrett before the election, he said, “I’m open to considering what will happen next.”
Biden said he would take a clearer position on adding court seats before the election, after seeing how the confirmation process unfolds.
But he also said he was hesitant to take a specific position at this stage because he wants the focus to be on what confirming Barrett would mean. And give conservatives a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court for abortion rights, health care, LGBTQ rights and more.
“If I answer the question directly, then the whole focus will be on what Biden will do if he wins, rather than whether what is happening now is appropriate,” Biden said. “This is something the president loves to do, which is always to take his eyes off the ball.”
A little clarity on the coronavirus
Since Trump entered Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, two of the persistent unanswered questions about his diagnosis have been what his lung images showed and whether he tested negative before the first presidential debate.
His physician, Dr. Sean Conley, repeatedly refused to answer when directly pressed. He said it was a matter of patient confidentiality. Trump’s other aides have ignored the test question, claiming they didn’t want to look back.
Pressed Thursday on the same issues, Trump was equally evasive. But his non-responses were revealing.
When asked directly if he was diagnosed with pneumonia, Trump said no. But he acknowledged that his lungs had been affected.
“They said the lungs are a little different, maybe a little infected,” he said. It was the first recognition, beyond revealing that he had required supplemental oxygen, that the president’s lungs were impacted.
Trump said he “didn’t ask too much.” And that “he didn’t have many problems with his lungs.” But he added that “obviously I felt something was missing.”
When asked later when his last negative test was before his covid diagnosis, Trump tried to avoid the question, saying they did it very frequently. But they pressured him if he gave negative on the day of the first presidential debate, to which he replied: “I don’t know, I don’t even remember.”
His response affirmed what sources have told CNN. That the testing regimen long touted by the White House as their primary coronavirus mitigation measure was not as comprehensive as they claimed.
