Combative Trump says pandemic is over, Joe Biden says he has ‘nothing’
Washington:
US President Donald Trump on Thursday gave a combative, sometimes agitated, defense of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic while his electoral challenger Joe Biden, simultaneously appearing in a town hall televised on another channel, accused him of not having ” nothing done”.
“We are turning the corner,” Trump said with his usual optimism, even as parts of the United States see the number of cases surging.
But pressed by the host of the NBC town hall in Miami, he quickly became frustrated, especially when asked about his lukewarm denunciations against far-right groups in the United States.
He refused to denounce QAnon, a conspiracy theory movement that believes Trump is fighting a “deep state” linked to a mysterious global elite that runs governments around the world, while also trafficking sex with children.
Trump said “I don’t know anything about QAnon,” then went on to say that he liked the dark group’s stance to be “very against pedophilia.”
In contrast, Biden’s appearance on rival ABC news network was less prominent, emphasizing direct conversations with members of the public in the format of the City Hall held in Philadelphia.
The Democrat, who holds a steady lead in the polls ahead of the Nov. 3 election, immediately aimed at Trump’s coronavirus record, accusing him of failing the country.
“We’re in a situation where we have over 210,000 dead and what is he doing? Nothing. He’s still not wearing masks,” Biden said.
– No debate –
Originally, the two candidates were supposed to meet on Thursday for what would have been their second of three presidential debates.
The first debate, which took place in Philadelphia, was a brutal affair in which Trump repeatedly spoke over Biden and the Democrat told him to “shut up.” The follow-up, however, was dropped after organizers switched to a virtual format, citing Trump’s coronavirus infection, and the president refused to agree to the arrangement.
Trump, who says he’s got rid of Covid-19 and returned to the campaign trail on Monday, has reserved rallies across the country for every night this week.
He predicted to supporters at a rally in North Carolina earlier Thursday that Biden would be easier by the moderator and the audience on ABC. “I am being installed tonight,” he said.
NBC’s decision to accept an appearance from Trump at the same time as Biden’s mayoralty likely meant few Americans could have seen and opposed the two men.
That may be fine with reality TV veteran Trump, who has often sought to counter-program his Democratic opponents and grab the media spotlight.
But just 19 days before the election, there is no time to overtake Biden.
Even a close ally of Trump’s US Senate, Lindsey Graham, said Thursday that Biden may be on his way to victory.
“You all have a good chance of winning the White House,” he told fellow Democrats as he opened a hearing on Trump’s latest Conservative Supreme Court candidate Amy Coney Barrett.
– Harris on hold –
The coronavirus pandemic, which has killed 217,000 Americans, continued to disrupt the already tense presidential election.
Following Trump’s temporary leave of absence from the campaign as he recovered last week, Biden’s vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris has now suspended her own trip after her communications director tested positive .
Harris staff Liz Allen and a flight crew member were diagnosed on Wednesday evening, Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement.
Harris did not need to self-quarantine, O’Malley Dillon added, but “out of caution” would cancel the trip and campaign virtually before hitting the road again on October 19.
The two individuals flew with Harris on October 8. The campaign said they wore masks and were no closer than six feet (two meters) from Harris for more than 15 minutes.
“I was not in close contact – as defined by the CDC – with either of them for 2 days before their positive tests,” Harris, a 55-year-old US senator, tweeted.
“I have had 2 negative tests this week and have no symptoms.”
Biden has reported several negative coronavirus tests since Trump’s diagnosis of Covid-19 on October 1, the most recent being Wednesday evening.
The campaign said another person who tested positive had traveled on Biden’s plane this week but had come so far the candidate was not in danger and medics said “it was not necessary” for him to quarantine it.
While Trump brags about being “immune” to the coronavirus and wrongly calls the experimental therapeutic drugs given to him “the cure,” he also continues to be dogged by the fallout from the pandemic.
His wife, First Lady Melania Trump, revealed on Wednesday that their 14-year-old son Barron had contracted the virus but was now negative.
(This story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
