Supreme court nomination, stimulus talks, and last night, dueling banjos of town halls, one for President Donald Trump and the other for joe biden, the democratic president ial nominee. To get us started and talk about this is the Washington PostWhite House Reporter ashley parker. Ashley, thanks for being here. Ashley thanks for having me jonathan. Jonathan on the town hall, these dueling debates, did the Trump Campaign achieve its aim, scheduling the trump town hall at the same time as biden . Ashley if the aim in some ways was to compete with biden for airtime and overshadow biden, i think, yes, anecdotally, more people seem to be watching the trump town hall in real time then the joe biden town hall. If real question to me is, knowing in hindsight how the townhall went, his the Trump Campaign happy that potentially so many people watched that trump town hall in real time . [laughter] jonathan im glad you pointed that out, because earlier in the day, i sent out a tweet saying, lets be clear, the townhall format is not exactly the best format for the president , because he is interacting with people. Sort of his demeanor with people, as we saw in the abc townhall a couple weeks ago, is warm and fuzzy output it like that. Ash a couple weeks ago it is not it is not warm and fuzzy, i will put it like that. Which is better, a town hall rallign rally echo y . Ashley from trumps perspective, there is Nothing Better than a Campaign Rally. They have tried to tell him when there was a debate about the debate, they try to convey to him thats right now, just about no Cable Network takes your rallies live. It may be fox news for part of that, depending on what time the rally is, but the eyeballs you get from a debate or a National Television event you do simply does not compare to you doing a rally or calling into foxbusiness news. For the president s own sense of self and what he likes to do, the rally is what he prefers. I know he loves the rallies and love seeing the people and hearing the cheers and applause, and the laughter, but does the president actually enjoy taking questions from everyday people . Ashley he can. It depends on his mood. There is something about the rallies being on stage and the cheers and adoration that he is always going to seek and glean energy from, but depending on his mood, the president does sometimes like to take questions from the press, for instance. It is not the similar to everyday americans. Is there indifference to how donald trump generally is able to express empathy and bill clinton style feel your pain when talking to an average voter compared to someone like joe biden or bill clinton . Absolutely. It is not where the president shines. He doesnt minded. He didnhall yesterday, its began with a oneonone interview, combative interview, relentless interview, almost like a debate with Savannah Guthrie. In the first commercial break, a trump aide walked on stage and pulled savannah aside and reminded her that, hey, the terms are that this is supposed to be a townhall with voters. In that moment, you had the trunk campaign eager to get back to voter questions, which might not be where the president shines showing empathy, but they realized it would certainly be less combative and less relentless followup that would get the president in trouble then what he was doing in realtime with savannah. Who did a fantastic interview. Jonathan i was about to ask you to dive a little deeper into her questioning, but you spilled a little tea there. I havent had a chance to read the morning papers, but the fact that the Trump Campaign went out to Savannah Guthrie at the commercial break and was like hey, you know, how about some questions from real people . Togets to what i was going ask you about Savannah Guthrie. The president s with savannah last night, to me, was a kin to his experience with Jonathan Swann of axios when they did the wheretly epic interview Jonathan Swann fact checked and pushed back on the president , in real time. Wondering, how does the president deal was Something Like that . Does that get under his skin, to be interrupted and challenged like that . Justy i think you can watch for yourself. The president is incredibly difficult interview, but some people, most notably as you mentioned in recent memory, Jonathan Swann and Savannah Guthrie, have been successful that. Savannah i believe is a former lawyer. There is something about the president and in his orbit, generally you hear he is not challenged. He gets memos and briefings that support his worldview, so when you have someone like savannah who was polite, cheerful, but she was also relentless and armed with the facts and could go back to him time and time again when he did not answer, to push him, politely, but to push him. Or when he said a fact that was wrong or misconstrued a study, to say that weight to say wait a minute, this is what you are and this is why its wrong. It does frustrate him, but more than that, it elicits answers for the public that we dont normally get to see when we hear trump talking points. Often, the mode is he gets a question and sort of heres a keyword. Then he presses a button for, oh, black voters, heres what i say about like voters, or the economy. To have that backandforth is fascinating and really feeling and revealing. Jonathan do you think Savannah Guthries rapidfire approach to moderating reveals more about the president s lack of policy knowledge than previous formats . Ashley potentially. There were some policy questions he didnt quite answer. To me, the moments that stood out were moments when she pressed him on his general reluctance to disavow White Supremacy. When she pressed him on why is a crazy say Conspiracy Theory, why do you aink is think it is good idea to retweet a Conspiracy Theory. She said you other president of the United States, not a crazy in thehat is out ether. I think you are probably right on the policy front as well. Jonathan i know i said that was the last question, but this will be. Technically speaking, there is a last debate on the calendar. It is supposed to be next week. Any reporting you might have on whether that debate is actually going to happen . Ashley its a good question. This first debate was not good for President Trump. I will say President Trump initially thought the first debate was good for him. His advisers kind of had to tell him otherwise. This debate is one moment to turn the tide. So if theres anyone who does not have an incentive to run out the clock it is donald trump. Im notsort of do his, going to do it, im going to do it. But at the end of the day, one candidate once the debate, a chance to mix it up and change the momentum, it is donald trump, and his team should want that more than bidens team bidens team. Jonathan ashley parker, thank you so much for coming on. Have a good rest of your day. Lets go over to the opinion side of the paper, where we will find my colleague, Washington Post deputy editorial ruth marcus who is actually here this time as opposed to last time, and hugh hewitt. Ruth, hugh, welcome. Ruth thanks for having us. Start by talking about last nights dueling townhall. The contract between the two townhalls last night. Before we get into the specifics of that, im interested in how you managed the simultaneous shows. Diddid you watch first, or you flip in between . Tell the actual truth. Ruth the actual truth is that we had a moment where we went to a friends backyard for dinner last night, so i watched it all afterwards. It was a little problematic, because i was preprogrammed to have some views from what i had seen on twitter, which i dont like, but i didnt have to when i had to flip through. We had excellent squash and fruit desserts with our friends and it was great to get out. [laughter] hugh i watched the president hugh i watched the town hall and i watched the joe biden last halfhour and i watched on twitter, both of them. Hugh ruth you are dating yourself. Hugh no one knows i am a feminist. Hostedt thing before i in 2016, no seinfeld jokes. The kids wont get it. Merv griffin is very old but it was that style of format at the end of the couch. I watched twitter through the whole thing for both of them which is how i think a lot of americans tune into the debate and definitely, donald trump generated the most positive and negative responses. Jonathan thats true, actually. Outmy part, we were socially distancing with friends in their backyard and got home in time. In having to choose between the two, we chose President Trump because it was only one hour and we could pick up a halfhour, the last halfhour of Vice President biden. I have to be honest, i watched President Trump because i wanted to see how he will do in this format. When he did the townhall with abc, he didnt it didnt go so well. And in looking at twitter and reactions to what joe biden was i actually dont need to watch the first hour of joe biden because with him i know what im going to get, calm, steady, empathetic. When i tuned in half an hour later, thats what i got. The question to the both of you is, when the president from the president s perspective, what is the right thing to do to do this dueling banjos type and did it serve its purpose . Yes, i think you never turn down prime time and he will probably have better ratings than joe. I am sad the Debate Commission screwed this up. They could have gone forward and it wouldve been safe for both candidates and it wouldve been better to have them both there. He got to say the most important thing he said which was Amy Coney Barrett is a great justice and she deserves support and i did not ask for anything. That was the most important thing he needed to say. Bidenen, he also gave joe 90 minutes in which to make a mistake as opposed to 45 minutes. He made a huge mistake talking about fracking last night. Its the hidden moment of these dueling town halls and he said we will take 128,000 people away from fracking. In western pennsylvania, many people are scratching their heads and they heard that as we cannot vote for joe biden or we will lose our jobs so i with ink it work for him very well. Jonathan is the most important thing the president needed to say was that Amy Coney Barrett was the person for the Supreme Court . Shouldnt the most important thing the president have said is that White Supremacy is bad and nutsoanon is a totally Conspiracy Theory and i unequivocally say so . Ruth can i do something really crazy and agree with both of you simultaneously . The most important thing that the president could have done to did not do was to speak the undecided voters out there, the kind of voters who might be tempted to go with him this time, go with him a second time, but have been turned up by some of his behavior, who are worried about the economy, who are worried about covid and to give them a clear understanding of where it is he wants to take the country in a second term. I thought it was an interesting question that Savannah Guthrie asked him toward the end. It mightve been the last question where she talked about a second term and said what would you do to improve . Of course, President Trump been President Trump, there is no room for improvement because he is perfect and he has done everything splendidly like no one has ever seen before. Anything, i thought, to try to close the deal with those undecided voters. While i was disappointed we didnt have an actual debate between the two, i thought the contract between the two candidates was really remarkable. There is a point at which one of President Trumps Campaign Advisors tweeted about how joe biden was coming off as mr. Rogers. I thought yes, that is one of the rare times we are in agreement. We need a little bit more mr. Rogers in our political life. Calm and i thought the contrast between the two candidates and their demeanors just said it all to voters. Jonathan are there any undecided voters . I dont believe that there really are any. Hugh i 100 agree. If we hold the vote today, its over and people of made up their minds. Pollingugh the errors in 2016. Were seven points in wisconsin for years ago and they say they have adjusted the model. They say they sample america better but again, i will retreat to the only thing that might have changed peoples minds this isk is amy ehret being extraordinarily poised and persuasive as she was. I think the people who voted for judges last time will vote for judges again. Ino not leave that exchange washington, d. C. Did not get people thinking that Savannah Guthrie will move independence one way or another by going people thought sounded like the spanish inquisition on qanon and White Supremacy. I dont think that worked with the independent voters who are worried about their jobs. I just dont. Its the savannah inquisition, maybe not the spanish inquisition and i think she prosecuted it extraordinaire really well. Jonathan, you suggested and i will disagree with both of you, and i will never be back here again jonathan you absolute well. Ruth you suggested that it was the format that was the not the best for President Trump. That may be but i actually thought he did fine with voters. Prettyht he seemed responsive and empathetic to them. I thought where he was really tripped up was with savanna inquisition. I think it inquisition is a good thing. Thats what we as journalists do. She asked fair questions and when he didnt answer them, she kept on asking them. That artt of flubs in of the opening which is why the white house advisors and Campaign Advisors were so concerned about the opening is his comments, his continuing refusal to answer questions about when he last tested negative before he tested positive. Maskssstatements about and his continuing refusal to do the president ial thing and exhort people to do the safe thing and to wear masks. His answer on his taxes and his acknowledgment that he owes 400 million to god knows who and god knows and the irs know so we the American Public dont know. He cleaned up his answer on White Supremacy finally and repeatedly but then he opened up this crazy uncle irresponsible front on qanon which anybody else i do not understand why he would identify them as opposers of pedophilia instead of just saying there are crazy things out there and i dont agree with them. Thought that was where he really fell short and yes, there are few undecided voters but they are still wavering and you still have to convince some people who may be rolling their eyes at him that they need to get out and leave. Im curious about what he would say about the answer from the president that i found which was whence of any asked him whether he would like to see roe v. Wade overruled and instead of repeating what he had said previously instead of repeating whats in the Republican Party platform or just the trump. Latform, he kind of demured hugh the biggest problem from last night is the American People are upset with the media. To,nt know what nbc agreed maybe in off the top town hall and it was 20 minutes of savanna is felt byt, that centerright america a big media. Whatthink big tech of happened with the hunter biden story. It was censored by big tech. They have a great suspicion of the elite and a great suspicion of how that happened yesterday. If savanna was known to the president to be opening up with 20 mitts of straight interview, then it was fine. If they guaranteed the president a town hall and didnt deliver it, thats not fine because the American Media has a credibility with the centerright. I dont know what the answer is. If you sit down and you are told we will go right to the voters, you prepared differently then if you sit down with Savannah Guthrie. Ruth hugh, this president agreed to a set of rules but i dont know what they were. I do know whether he followed the rules or didnt. The reality is come i think you would agree that none of those questions were improper or were,se but even if they the last person on earth who has standing to complain about not following the rules in a debate or a town hall format or anything else is donald trump who did not follow the rules at the first and i hope not the last president ial debate. That we have to disagree withery time i come away this because he gets mad at me about something. After i questioned him in 2016, he called into me to make fun of me on morning joe. If questions are given to the candidate, you should live by that with your candidate. If you watch the opening of debate number one, the first person to break the rules was the Vice President and Chris Wallace was a blocking back for the president for the entire debate. Thats with the centerright thinks. I believe they walked away from last night thinking the media will not has never given and cannot be expected to give the republican candidate a fair set of rules. Jonathan lets move away from the media criticism for a moment. One because we are not just talk about any candidate, we are talking about the sitting president of the United States should be prepared for anything and for any question. Lets talk about someone you brought up several times now and that is judge Amy Coney Barrett who is the nominee to the Supreme Court. As you brought her up twice, i will start with ruth. I want ruth to give us your views of how the hearings have gone, how judge barrett has acquitted herself and what fears, if any, you have about a Justice Barrett. Hearings i would say is largely which unexpected. Its not unique to Justice Barrett but i think there has been, since judge borks which was an intellectual feast and a rollicking good time, there has been increasing unwillingness among nominees to answer questions. Onlyonly answer questions to the extent that they feel its incumbent on them to do it because they need senators votes. Senators have really allowed this to go way too far in my view. There are certainly questions that should be offlimits. Amy Coney Barrett came into the hearings understanding that she had the votes so there wasnt a lot she needed to give. She would answer questions about what foreignlanguage she spoke, who did the laundry in her house , she was a little evasive about that, whether she is a racist or she likes warm puppies. There were two sets of evasions. One was can you answer questions about this public issue and the answer is no, i dont to policy and i dont to science. The second one was, can you answer questions about this case . I cant answer questions about this case unless its brown v. Board of education because that could come before me. Nonetheless, having hearings is better than not having hearings. We got nonanswers from her which are very telling about 1960 fivee thinks the that marriedng couples have a right to privacy in the constitution and to obtain contraception. She wouldnt say whether that was correctly decided because she said thats a slippery slope. Interesting that chief Justice Roberts was willing to go there. To get to the third prong of your question, how worried am i about a Justice Barrett from my ideological point of view . Hugely worried about Justice Barrett. About brettok kavanaugh supreme ambition, Brett Kavanaugh and the conservative takeover. If there was any doubt when Brett Kavanaugh joined the court about whether there was a conservative takeover, there is zero doubt now, mission accomplished. Hugh i am very glad the democrats did not read this because on stage 70, ruth underscore judge barretts article on being decisive. If i had been the Democratic Caucus or council, i wouldve said focus on this article as ruth did him her book and repeatedly go to what binds and what doesnt bind. Be prepared to talk about chief Justice Roberts in citizens united. There wasnt one very interesting exploitation of an existing opinion between dick durbin who did a fine job and stayed away from catholicism. And judge barrett on her gun control case and what it means to have a civic right versus an individual right. Was substantive and fascinating but the democrats were poorly prepared. They decided they would make this into an aca rally. That case will not knock over the aca. When it happens, they will not have much credibility left. They would have been much better prepared to give her a hard time. As it is, she is a great judge. She will be a great justice in the Supreme Court will become very boring. They will go back to being judges and not legislators. I, for one, am happy with that. Jonathan ruth . Ruth i am praying for boring. I am completely praying for boring but that is not going to be a boring Supreme Court. I think its going to be conservative leaning and potentially quite energetically so. Think the democrats did a little bit of a better job in abouting the questioning the cases and the decision on the gun case. When you have a hearing like this, you have to answer the question, what is your goal . Block heral to try to nomination . That was not going to happen. If you know you will end up with the nominee getting confirmed, you have to say what are the best politics for us . And i agree that i dont think the Affordable Care act is in serious jeopardy of being entirely dismantled and the Supreme Court case that will be argued on november 10. But as a political matter, trying to scare voters that that all a badn was not at strategy on the part of democrats who had a losing hand to play. I know you too can go back and forth on this all day. Literally, all day but we dont have all day. We are out of time. Hewitt andugh Washington Post deputy editorial page and author of supreme ambition. Ruth, thank you for coming on. Have a good day. Thank you for watching Washington Post live and we will be back at 1 00 p. M. Eastern this afternoon for the next event in our voting matters series featuring former Massachusetts Governor deval patrick, Zach Carruthers from portugal demand and amy lee from evanescence. As always, you can learn more about these events and more at Washington Post live. Com. For the opinion writer Washington Post, for Washington Post live, thank you for watching, have a good rest of the day. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] be with us for comments by joe biden who will talk about health care in michigan outside of detroit. You can watch that live at 2 30 p. M. Eastern here on cspan. Later, more from camping 2020 with President Trump who is traveling to georgia today for a Campaign Rally in macon, georgia. Watch that live starting at 7 p. M. Eastern here on cspan, online at www. Cspan. Org or listen live with the free cspan radio app. We are just weeks away from election day, november 3, when control of congress and you occupies the white house nectar will be decided. Set staypenn with cspan and watch debates in some of the hotly contested house and senate races. Campaign 2020 coverage, every day on cspan, cspan. Org or listen on the cspan radio app. Your place for an unfiltered view of politics. Sunday, at 9 p. M. Eastern on afterwards, on why black americans should vote republican in her book blackout. 25 of africanamericans call themselves conservative. Isthat shocking to you or that a story youre trying to get out there because you know its true . I know it to be true and ive said from the beginning, show me a black american i will show you someone who is conservative and doesnt know it. One thing that republicans are good at is getting out their message. Ive tried to be different in joining the conservative movement is we have to realize what that the left one a culture war. They were the ones on tv and there being funnier. Watch book tv this weekend on cspan two. Cspan 2. The competition is on, be a part of this years cspan studentcam video competition. Middle and High School Students can make a five minute documentary exploring the issue you want the president and congress to address in 2021. 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