President Trump scored a town hall meeting with NBC News, directly competing with one scheduled on ABC News for Joe Biden.

The dueling town halls will take place Thursday night at 8pm Eastern.

Originally, the second presidential debate was supposed to take place.

The October 15th debate had been thrown up in the air after President Trump’s positive coronavirus diagnosis, though he has since been cleared to appear.

Still, the Commission on Presidential Debates sought to change it to a virtual format.

They would eventually cancel it outright, prompting both campaigns to seek alternative means to get their message out to the American people.

How the Second Debate Turned Into a Dueling Town Hall Showdown

Trump refused to take part in a virtual town hall, claiming it would provide an opportunity for his opponent to use teleprompters, or whatever other means to answer questions.

The President called it “a non-starter” as it “would clearly be a gift to Biden because he would be relying on his teleprompter from his basement bunker.”

The debate further ran into issues when moderator Steve Scully, a former intern for Biden, had a tweet sent from his account to Anthony Scaramucci regarding President Trump.

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Scully claimed his account was hacked, prompting critics to cry foul.

Biden and ABC announced their plans shortly thereafter, prompting Trump’s campaign to find another way to compete with the former Vice President in a head-to-head matchup.

Could This Help Trump?

Competing head-to-head against Biden will almost assuredly mean more viewers for the Trump town hall and NBC.

Flipping back and forth between the two events will demonstrate to the American people the difference in how moderator Savannah Guthrie (NBC) and George Stephanopoulos (ABC), a former Clinton insider, treat the respective candidates.

Another sign that this will be beneficial to Trump – the liberal meltdown over NBC daring to air his town hall opposite that of Biden.

CNN reports that Guthrie will sit 12 feet away from the President while attendees will be required to wear face masks.

The first presidential debate was widely considered a chaotic mess, as moderator Chris Wallace struggled to assume control.

The ensuing disaster caused media outlets to report that Trump had lost.

Still, he managed to get Biden to denounce support for the Green New Deal, hammered the former Vice President for saying he’d shut down the economy again, and stumped him when challenged to name one law enforcement group that supports the Democrat.

The third debate, scheduled for October 22nd, remains up in the air.

This piece originally appeared in ThePoliticalInsider.com and is used by permission.

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