Trump thinks Biden should have implemented a mask mandate -- though he's not president

In ABC town hall he also said "herd mentality" will cure coronavirus. Trump is a train wreck when he leaves Fox News bubble.

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Donald Trump last night showed that he’s a disaster in the town hall format — especially when there’s social distancing and mask-wearing. Joe Biden, on the other hand, has shown during the primaries that this is a great format for him, and he’s doing one Thursday night on CNN.

But in the ABC Town Hall with Trump, moderated by George Stephanopoulos, Trump was so uncomfortable: Sitting like a child in a high chair, speaking on a stage with what seemed like 10 people in the audience, all in masks. It's his worst nightmare.

But it's what life is like outside the Fox News bubble.

Trump lied — and lied — as undecided Pennsylvania voters asked him questions. Yes, some of them skewed Democratic or seemed like they’d already made up their minds against Trump. But others were clearly Trumpers. The claim later by Laura Ingraham at Fox News that this town hall was an “ambush” was ridiculous. Trump just can’t face his lies being exposed by people — and tapes, which were played of his conversations with Bob Woordward.

Stephanopoulos could have done a much better job of fact-checking Trump. Trump lied, often when going off on tangents, and I can understand just wanting him to get to the answer, and picking your battles as an interviewer. But it’s the tangents that are the lies directed right at his supporters. They have to be taken on.

At one point Trump attacked Biden for being a hypocrite because he had said we need a national mask mandate and yet didn’t implement one — not seeming to understand Biden isn’t the incumbent president and has no power to influence governors or others on mask mandates or issue guidance from the White House.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar

"They said at the Democrat Convention they're gonna do a national [mask] mandate. They never did it." -- someone might want to inform Trump who the president is He then tries to both-sides mask wearing, saying "a lot of people think that masks are not good."

Then he said that a lot of people don’t like masks. When Stephanopoulos asked him who those people are, he replied, “I’ll tell you who those people are, waiters.”

Trump, who told Woodward he didn't sound the alarm on coronavirus because he didn't want to create a "panic," also tried several times to create a panic. "If Joe Biden ever got in, you'll have a depression the likes of which we've never seen in this country,” he said in a line that just fell flat. He’s used to his adoring crowds worshipping him, cheering him on, and he didn’t get that.

Trump actually tried to explain to a Black pastor how he is the greatest thing to happen to Black people. And he was back to excusing police for murdering Black people: "They choke under pressure."

Trump also continued to say that coronavirus, which has killed almost 200,000 Americans and isn’t abating, would “disappear” — with or without a vaccine — and that it would happen via “herd mentality,” that immunity would be “herd-developed.”

Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1

So when do conservatives declare Trump unfit because he said "herd mentality" instead of herd immunity? Or because he talked about COVID with a woman who said her mother died of cancer? That's how it works, right? Because that's what they've said about Joe Biden over far less.

This was sheer lunacy and another example of how Trump is almost constantly making bizarre statements, and mistakes, which he never corrects — like when he called Yosemite National Park — “Yo-Semite” — and yet, the GOP and the Trumpers have the gall to jump on Biden for any benign mistake, which he corrects right after, clearly showing he’s cognizant and makes mistakes like all of us.

One thing Stephanopoulos did jab Trump on was his claim of having a healthcare plan though he’s yet to lay it out, though we’re 48 days from the election (and he’s talked about it for months and months). He said, “It’s ready,” to which Stephanopoulos reminded him he told him that in June. One woman eviscerated Trump on his stripping of Obamacare and he had nothing to say except that he’s got this great plan— that never materializes.

It doesn’t seem anyone was really swayed by what Trump had to say, as this tweet from CNN’s Brian Stelter, who later interviewed several of the people who asked questions, shows.

Brian Stelter @brianstelter

Paul Tubiana of Bethlehem, PA was the first questioner at ABC's town hall. He said he voted for Trump in 2016. He asked about the pandemic. "He didn't answer anything," Tubiana told me afterward. "He was lying through his teeth."

I think Trump should do more town halls.