ABC, NBC Announce Separate Presidential Town Halls

Since the first presidential debate two weeks ago, the 2020 U.S. presidential election has been in a near-constant state of disarray. Shortly after the debate, which was criticized as one of the worst debates in American history, President Trump announced that he tested positive for the coronavirus. Once out of the hospital, Trump backed out of the second debate, a virtual town hall-style event.

Now both candidates will participate in separate televised town halls on competing networks. Tomorrow night, Vice President Biden will participate in a town hall on ABC and President Trump will participate in one on NBC.

The debate commission moved the event online following Trump's diagnosis, making him a health risk to Biden, as well as the crew and moderator of the debate.

"In seven decades of televised presidential debates, this is the first debate to be canceled," said Newton N. Minow, a commission member. "The loser is the American voter."

Some online are not pleased about the separate events, particularly Trump's critics. Earlier today, after NBC announced the event, the hashtag #boycottNBC trended on Twitter.

Retweet if you agree it's time to #BoycottNBC for giving Trump a town hall, effectively rewarding him for refusing to debate @joebiden.

— Grandma Grit 🌎 former GOP (@grandmagrit) October 14, 2020

BREAKING: Twitter explodes with #BoycottNBC, #BoycottMSNBC and #BoycottTrumpTownHall hashtags after the network announces a town hall event with Trump, in response to him backing out of the debate.

— James Kosur (@JamesKosur) October 14, 2020

Who here is going to #BoycottNBC tomorrow and watch JoeBiden</a> on <a href="https://twitter.com/ABC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">ABC because children like Trump should not be rewarded for throwing tantrums?#BoycottTrumpTownHall #BoycottMSNBC #boycottTrumpNBC

— Liddle’ Savage (@littledeekay) October 14, 2020

The decision by NBC News to run a Trump town hall directly opposite ABC's Biden town hall is indefensible.

— Jeff Greenfield (@greenfield64) October 14, 2020

Biden's critics lashed out the blaming of Trump. On Twitter, conservative commentators like Ben Shapiro, defended Trump and blamed the debate commission for calling for a virtual debate.

If you're angry that NBC News is now doing a townhall with Trump while ABC News is doing a townhall with Biden, perhaps you should mostly be angry at the idiots at the Commission on Presidential Debates, who declared a Zoom debate mandatory for no reason.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) October 14, 2020

The commission called for a virtual debate because President Trump recently contracted the coronavirus, which has killed more than 213,000 people in the U.S. and infected 7 million more.

According to NBC's Hoda Kotb of Today, the event will take place outside and "accordance with the guidelines set forth by health officials, also consistent with all government regulations."

A third debate between the two candidates is still scheduled for October 22nd at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.