A Tale of Two Towns: President Trump and his opponent Joe Biden provided a stark contrast in style and content yesterday in dueling town hall meetings starting at the same hour on different television networks.

  Joe Biden on ABC demonstrated a masterful knowledge of issues and possible solutions, but, like Trump, he dodged. Biden declined to say whether he would  want to “pack” the Supreme Court with liberal judges after the republicans confirm Amy Coney Barrett.

  Before taking questions from voters, NBC’s Savannah Guthrie did an admirable job grilling Trump about his case of Covid-19, wearing masks, white supremacy, and the QAnon conspiracy theory.

  Trumped dodged on whether he got tested before the first presidential debate and when was the last time he tested negative; “I don’t know, I don’t even remember. I test all the time.”

  The President defended not wearing a mask most of the time during the pandemic. He said you can’t conduct the sometime intimate business of being president wearing a surgical mask.  

  He grudgingly denounced white supremacy; “I denounce white supremacy. Okay?”

  He claimed not to know anything about QAnon, the conspiracy movement that claims prominent Democrats run child Satanic child molestation rings. He said, “Let me just tell you. What I do hear about it, is they are very strongly against pedophilia. And I agree with that.”

 On the matter of the Supreme Court, Biden claimed that delivering an opinion now on court packing would draw attention away from the hurried confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett only days before an election in which the country might change direction.

  “Court packing” would be increasing the number of justices to install more that might favor the president’s opinions. Biden said, “Well, I’m not a fan. It depends on how this turns out. Not how he wins, but how it’s handled, how it’s handled.”

  Let’s just say that’s completely meaningless.

  But while Trump was grudgingly denouncing hate groups,  Biden carried on conversantly about corporate tax rates and foreign policy, the basic stuff of being an intelligent and informed president.  

Perilous Times:  This morning’s NY Times delivers an almost historically grave editorial opinion about the prospect of re-electing a sitting president. It begins:

“Donald Trump’s re-election campaign poses the greatest threat to American democracy since World War II.

  Mr. Trump’s ruinous tenure already has gravely damaged the United States at home and around the world. He has abused the power of his office and denied the legitimacy of his political opponents, shattering the norms that have bound the nation together for generations. He has subsumed the public interest to the profitability of his business and political interests. He has shown a breathtaking disregard for the lives and liberties of Americans. He is a man unworthy of the office he holds.”

Viral News: The US recorded more than 65,000 new cases of the coronavirus yesterday, the worst day for spread of the disease since August. The two week trend is up 25 percent. Another 813 Americans died.

  Vice Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris had to drop off the campaign trail after a member of her staff tested positive for the virus. A crew member on Joe Biden’s plane also tested positive, but Biden is staying on the road. Both Biden and Harris have tested negative. 

  Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who spent seven days in intensive care with the virus, now admits it was a mistake not to wear a mask during meetings at the White House, believing he was in a “safe zone.” 

  It’s still uncertain when a vaccine might be widely available. The drug company Pfizer says theirs won’t be ready until at least mid-November.

The Intel: In the aftermath of a NY Post story about communications culled from a computer claimed to have been owned by Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, The NY Times reports that President Trump had been warned that his lawyer Rudy Giuliani would be used as a conduit for Russian disinformation.

  Someone claiming the computer had been left unclaimed in a repair shop gave it to Giuliani, who then released information to the Trump-supporting NY Post. The story they published has come under serious question.

  Hunter Biden had worked for the Ukrainian gas company Burisma and Trump has accused Biden of giving the company favorable treatment while he was vice president. The accusation has remained unproven.

  The NY Post says most of the material on the computer is innocuous, but it also contains intimate images and some porn. 

  The Times reports that, “Mr. Trump and Mr. Giuliani have promoted unsubstantiated claims about Mr. Biden that have aligned with Russian disinformation efforts, and Mr. Giuliani has met with a Ukrainian lawmaker whom American officials believe is a Russian agent.”

Graham Crackers: In a race considered a dead heat two days ago, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham leads his Democratic opponent Jaime Harrison by six points, according to a new NY Times/Siena College poll. A Quinnipiac poll had them even at 48-48 at the end of September.

  In that same Times poll, President Trump leads Joe Biden by eight points in South Carolina

  Caution, though. The poll has a margin for error of 4.5 percentage points. 

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