Sinclair Broadcast Group announced Friday that the president would participate in an event on Oct. 21, to be moderated by Eric Bolling, the conservative political commentator and host of America This Week. The event will air on all of Sinclair’s CW and MNT stations in 55 markets, as well as on their websites. Trump will answer questions from Bolling and members of an audience.
After all the concerns about threats to democracy in the pursuit of ratings, Thursday’s dueling town halls between Donald Trump on NBC and Joe Biden on ABC ended up being a very good night for Savannah Guthrie, a very very good night for the Atlanta Braves and an excellent night for the former vice president. The ex-Veep’s 8-9:30 p.m. ET The Vice-President and the People snagged 12.2 million viewers and a 2.6 rating among adults 18-49 last night. Over on NBC, a petulant Trump was grilled by Guthrie and voters in Miami from 8-9 p.m. as 10.3 million Americans tuned in, with a 1.7 rating among the key demo.
Joe Biden participated in a 90-minute town hall from Philadelphia on ABC, while NBC News went ahead with its hourlong session with President Trump in Miami — despite protests from Hollywood stars and others who criticized the network for forcing viewers to choose because the two events were held at the same time.
The president and Joe Biden were supposed to meet Thursday for their second debate hosted by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates. Following the president’s diagnosis, the commission switched it to a virtual meeting, but Trump declined to participate. Biden then agreed to appear on ABC. Critics of NBC questioned why the network scheduled Trump for the same time, making viewers have to choose if they were interested in seeing both candidates react live in a similar format.
