Even before they began, it was clear that the dueling town halls held on October 15 by ABC News for Joe Biden and NBC News for Donald Trump would create an awkward situation for voters.
Although such matters would normally be the responsibility of the Commission on Presidential Debates, CNN reported on October 9 that they would be canceling the second debate after Trump declined the opportunity to conduct it through a virtual platform.
While the separate town halls would then become an apparently necessary improvisation given the circumstances, The Washington Post reported that NBC faced backlash from journalists and other critics for starting Trump’s town hall at the same time as Biden’s. After all, this meant that people were forced to choose between them to actually hear any sustained discussion of the issues the country faces.
Perhaps it is a combination of the general atmosphere surrounding these difficult circumstances and the kind of spirit that saw a fly grab the social media spotlight for landing on Mike Pence’s head that led Twitter users to latch onto one seemingly innocuous moment.
At 9:05 pm on Thursday night, NBC News posted a 13-second clip of Trump’s Miami town hall to Twitter.
As you’ll see in the full clip, this featured a voter named Paulette Dale complimenting President Trump’s smile before asking her question.
As she said, “I have to say you have a great smile.” As Trump thanked her for his, she continued, saying, “He does. You’re so handsome when you smile.”
It’s worth noting that this NBC clip did not actually include Dale’s question nor Trump’s response to it.
As The Miami New Times reported , her question concerned the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that allows young undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States.
It drew on her family’s experiences in immigrating to the United States after escaping religious persecution in Eastern Europe and expressed concern with the president’s previous inclinations to cut this program.
Although his response included tangents about the border wall and the number of COVID-19 cases in Mexico, he ultimately answered, “We are working very hard on the DACA program and you will be, I think, very happy over the course of the next year, because I feel the same way that you do about it.”
But since none of this was included in the Twitter clip, users instead shared their own opinions on how handsome Trump’s smile is.
As we can see from these awkward comparisons, it’s clear that one user gets a very different vibe from Trump’s smile than Dale does.
However, not only did some others agree with her but they also seemed happy that this was what people were talking about.
Given that it’s hardly uncommon for Trump and his supporters to clash with mainstream media sources, these users seem to imply that for one of these sources to “have to” air this clip constituted a victory for their camp.
Some of those who didn’t find Trump’s smile particularly pleasant had a topical way of expressing it.
Another user replied by saying that Trump has stated his healthcare plan would protect pre-existing conditions. Then, yet another expressed doubt in such statements as they don’t match the terms of the proposed Affordable Care Act replacement that NBC News reported him as endorsing in 2017.
However, other users found the likeability of Trump’s smile completely immaterial and expressed frustration at NBC for focusing on it.
Dale reportedly also wanted to ask about climate change, which wasn’t discussed at all in the Miami town hall despite taking place in a city threatened by rising sea levels.
For these users, that omission would likely be worth more discussion than a smile.
Nonetheless, the clip of Dale’s compliment can be seen right here.
And in case you’re curious, it doesn’t actually appear that Dale has any intention of voting for Trump.
As she told The Miami New Times , she was pleased with his answer and does genuinely like his smile but said he “steps in it every time he opens his mouth.”
As she said, “He’s very combative and he doesn’t believe in science, and that’s a big concern to me. And by his own words, he knows more than the [military] generals, knows more than the public-health experts, knows more than anybody. I believe Joe Biden will listen to the experts.”
h/t: The Miami New Times
