I do agree that, in general, some of of the so-called "town halls" on various networks have planted people from a political party asking biased questions and/or irrelevant/ignorant questions.

There was an Oct. 15 event in Georgia billed as a women's town hall asking Trump questions.
It aired on Fox but it was edited.  According to CNN:
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/10/16/media/fox-news-women-town-hall-supporters/index.html

“I want to thank you for coming to a room full of women the current administration would consider domestic terrorists,” a woman named Alicia said to laughter from the audience before a question about foreign policy. 
But a portion of Alicia’s question was edited by Fox News to remove her admission that she was voting for Trump.
“I proudly cast my vote for you today. I hope they count it,” she added, according to an audio recording from a CNN reporter in attendance.

While it’s common for a pre-taped event or interview to be edited for time, Alicia’s short remark came in the middle of her question, which remained intact on the broadcast.

During another moment missing from Fox’s broadcast, Trump asked the crowd who they were voting for, leading to a chant of “Trump, Trump” breaking out by the attendees.

Fox News did not respond to CNN questions about the missing remarks.

 

 

 

 

8 minutes ago, j swift said:

Yes, but while the questions about Trump's cabinet not endorsing him was while executed (pardon the pun), the lack of follow up or fact checking, just allows him to spew lies. For example, he said that 90% of his staff endorsed him, when in fact only 4 out of 44 cabinet members from his time in office support him currently.

Yeah I agree there definitely needs to be more fact-checking on both interviews and on town halls.

@Vee This is some of what I was talking about with the media hype over the Al Smith dinner.

 

It just disgusts me. This is what our media wants and I never know how many people will fall for it. Oh Trump was so funny, even Democrats laughed! Where was Kamala Harris, why wasn't she supporting the Catholics, on and on and on.

I think the press is also being willfully naive on the gender optics of the Al Smith dinner.

It is a white-tie formal evening.  She would have had to wear a gown, in a campaign where her team seems to have made the conscience (and smart) choice to keep her in pants.  The press comments on her choice of dress, the designer, and the cost of the bespoke outfit would've totally swept her victory over Bret Baier under the rug.

I'm not suggesting that is why didn't go.  But, it plays into the narrative about why it was smart for her not to go.  I mean, let Trump sit there looking far too comfortable in an old-fashioned tailcoat, two rows in front of the woman who successfully prosecuted him, while cussing to Catholics.  It is far better for her campaign for her to be in the Midwest, successfully clapping back at the two Trumpers who tried to heckle her. 

 

Edited October 19, 20241 yr by j swift

5 hours ago, DRW50 said:

This is what our media wants and I never know how many people will fall for it. Oh Trump was so funny, even Democrats laughed! Where was Kamala Harris, why wasn't she supporting the Catholics, on and on and on.

I just don't think most voters are seriously caring about the Al Smith dinner or 'supporting the Catholics' in 2024. Grinnin' Brian Stelter may have been typically charmed by Trump's bad jokes, but the public doesn't really register that stuff.

22 minutes ago, Vee said:

I just don't think most voters are seriously caring about the Al Smith dinner or 'supporting the Catholics' in 2024. Grinnin' Brian Stelter may have been typically charmed by Trump's bad jokes, but the public doesn't really register that stuff.

I don't think the incident in of itself matters (and it is also a trap, because the same people would have said she was laughing with Trump instead of campaigning in a swing state) but it's just another brick in the wall the media is trying to build around her campaign, which so many people seem to be falling for.

Thread:

 

By Monday, the Al Smith dinner will not matter. For better or for worse, that is the nature of the news media cycle. Things move fast and some clips of canned jokes won’t leave much of an imprint.mIt was very wise of the VP not to attend. 

99.9 % of the voters have no idea who Al Smith was or give a darn about the Al Smith dinner.  Other things the media peddles that are likely untrue.

1. Black male voters moving to Trump - How many elections do we need to keep hearing this and it being proven false? I just can't with this.

2. Latino voters - This is a varied base of voters, In Florida, the latinos there are completely diff than those in Arizona or Texas or California or Nevada or name your place.  The media wants to pretend they are a monolith

3. All young men are moving to Trump - Based on what podcasts?

If I believe polls(and I don't much anymore) I see that Harris leads women by 15 points and Trump leads men by 9%. Just based on that metric because more women vote and we are 54% of the voting base.

If people are obsessing over polls(we see this all over social media) and not volunteering to help, well they can look at their own reflection in the mirror after election day.

1 hour ago, DramatistDreamer said:

By Monday, the Al Smith dinner will not matter. For better or for worse, that is the nature of the news media cycle. Things move fast and some clips of canned jokes won’t leave much of an imprint.mIt was very wise of the VP not to attend. 

It already is. Now Trump was wandering on stage for 20 minutes at a rally last night because "his mic went out". Forget that they always have multiple mics available. Something much more drastic is going to happen to him before election day.

And back to Al Smith, I was raised Catholic - I don't consider myself one anymore and have not for a long time. I guarantee that 21% of the population that are allegedly catholic - most of them haven't stepped foot in a church in years.   My parents never gave a dime to Catholic Charities.  My mom was very careful in terms of who they donated to and when it came to charities, she always researched to see how much overhead they have.  Catholic Charities is one that has a lot.  Doesn't mean they might not do good work, but look into the Salvation Army whose overhead is minimal in comparison.

4 hours ago, Vee said:

Thread:

 

This is excellent and one of my close friends has been saying this for ages.  He also had a very similar experience at his employer as what the Pitchbot is mentioning related to his.  This goes on at a ton of places as we all know. The Times is not immune.  Sadly it's ruined their brand to an extent. Couple that with the dying out of newspapers and you get this.  I do think that many of these "reputable" news sources have incorrectly made the assumption clickbait is it. It's not.

Edited October 19, 20241 yr by JaneAusten

Speaking of the Black male vote, this article appeared in Newsweek, hardly a left-leaning publication.

Admittedly, I have yet to read this article but I will, as the headline caught my attention.

Donald Trump's Success With Black Voters Might be a Myth After All

 

 

NY Times describing Tr*ump's comment about the size of Arnold Palmer's d*ck

 

Edited October 20, 20241 yr by janea4old

He's done this over and over. 

This constant covering from so many in the media is one of the biggest reasons so many people just see Trump as fun and wacky, no matter what he says or does.

Politico massages the facts:

 

 

56 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

He's done this over and over. 

A deeply bizarre postscript:

 

 

 

 

The Times was pressured to publish:

 

Too bad Arnie isn't still around to bask in all this glory, lol.