Out now!

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By Ece Yildirim, Celia Kreth, and Tori Sousa 5 hours ago

... Outside the venue, at least 200 people gathered for an anti-Trump demonstration organized by Refuse Fascism Philly and the Penn Community for Justice. Protesters made speeches and chanted slogans like, "Out Now" and "Black Lives Matter" throughout the event ...

https://www.thedp.com/article/2020/09/trump-town-hall-in-philadelphia

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1. 3 takeaways

By Candy Woodall
USA TODAY Network Pennsylvania Capitol Bureau
Posted at 7:10 AM
Updated at 7:11 AM

... Despite recently released audio of the president saying he downplayed the virus because he didn’t want to create a panic, Trump on Tuesday night said he didn’t do that ...

The president repeated a prediction he made in March that the virus would disappear on its own.

“It is going to disappear. It’s going to disappear, I still say it,” Trump said ...

https://www.poconorecord.com/news/20200916/trump-town-hall-in-pa-3-takeaways-from-president-on-covid-racism-and-military

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2. 5 key takeaways

By: Quinn Scanlan, Cheyenne Haslett, ABC News
Posted at 4:51 PM, Sep 15, 2020 and last updated 1:23 AM, Sep 16, 2020

... "Could you have done more to stop it?" Stephanopoulos asked Trump for the last question of the town hall.

"I don't think so," the president responded ...

During the town hall, the president disputed that he had downplayed the virus. But, following his denial, he continued to do just that. "We're going to be okay and it is going away," even "without the vaccine," he told the audience. Medical experts, meanwhile, say there is no evidence that the virus will go away without a vaccine.

"Sure, over a period of time. Sure with time it goes away," Trump said. Each day, cases continue to rise at a rate that Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said puts the U.S. in a concerning position heading into fall ...

https://www.abc15.com/news/election-2020/trump-to-take-questions-from-uncommitted-voters-in-abc-news-town-hall-from-philadelphia

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3. Six Standout Moments

BY JACOB JARVIS ON 9/16/20 AT 4:56 AM EDT

... Trump also suggested the U.S. is doing better in certain statistics than others, and reiterated his stance that figures are high due to the level of testing, despite some experts having argued against that claim.

"If we wouldn't do testing you wouldn't have cases. You would have very few cases," he said ...

https://www.newsweek.com/six-standout-moments-trumps-abc-news-town-hall-1532189

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4. Banking on 'hope'

ByRick Klein andMaryAlice Parks
September 16, 2020, 6:05 AM

... Trump needs certain realities to set in. Notably, he owned his frequent and much-criticized assertion that COVID-19 would go away on its own.

"It is going to disappear. It's going to disappear -- I still say it," the president told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos.

Of course, saying it won't necessarily make it so ...

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/note-town-hall-shows-trump-banking-hope-covid/story?id=73026451

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5. Denies downplaying virus, casts doubt on mask usage

The Associated Press 5 hrs ago

... “There are people that don’t think masks are good,” Trump said, though his own Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strongly urges their use ...

Trump also suggested the virus would disappear without a vaccine, claiming the nation would develop a herd immunity with time, but he didn’t mention the lives that would be lost along the way.

“It’s going to be herd-developed, and that’s going to happen. That will all happen” ...

http://www.mohavedailynews.com/news/trump-denies-downplaying-virus-casts-doubt-on-mask-usage-at-town-hall/article_7b13e036-f7df-11ea-98ba-6f82de45d1fd.html

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6. A fire hose of lying

video

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7. Venturing outside the Fox bubble

Brian Stelter, CNN Business
Updated 12:18 AM ET, Wed September 16, 2020

Voters stood up and spoke the truth to President Trump on Tuesday night. And Trump had a very hard time coming out of his Fox bubble to face real questions. That's what made the ABC town hall so important to see ...

Paul Tubiana of Bethlehem, PA was the first questioner. He asked: "Mr. President, I voted for you in 2016. I'm a conservative, pro-life and diabetic. I've had to dodge people who don't care about social distancing and wearing face masks. I thought you were doing a good job with the pandemic response until about May 1. Then you took your foot off the gas pedal. Why did you throw vulnerable people like me under the bus?"

I held my breath. Trump has never been challenged about his mishandling of the pandemic quite like that before. Trump's initial response: "Well, we really didn't, Paul." And then he blamed China and promised that "we're within weeks of getting" a vaccine.

"He didn't answer anything," Tubiana told me afterward. "He was lying through his teeth" ...

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/16/media/donald-trump-abc-town-hall-reliable-sources/index.html

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8. Says vaccine could be weeks away

SEPTEMBER 15, 20209:36 PMUPDATED 8 HOURS AGO
By Andrea Shalal

... “We’re very close to having a vaccine,” he said. “If you want to know the truth, the previous administration would have taken perhaps years to have a vaccine because of the FDA and all the approvals. And we’re within weeks of getting it... Could be three weeks, four weeks.”

Earlier this month, top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN that most experts believe a vaccine will be ready by November or December. “It is conceivable that you can have it by October, though I don’t think that that’s likely.” Other experts say a scientifically credible vaccine will not be available until early 2021 ...

He also defended Americans who have shunned face masks and social distancing guidelines, and said even experts like Fauci had changed their views about those practices during the crisis ...

“It would go away without the vaccine ... but it’s going to go away a lot faster with it,” he said. “You’ll develop ... a herd mentality” ...

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-trump/trump-says-coronavirus-vaccine-could-be-weeks-away-abc-news-town-hall-idUSKBN26704E

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9. Train Wreck

By Dominic Patten, Ted Johnson
September 15, 2020 7:16pm

... “It’s going to disappear, George,” an agitated Trump didactically proclaimed of the coronavirus. “We’re going to get back – we’re not going to have studios like this, where you have all of this empty space in between,” Trump said. “I want to see people, and you want to see people. I want to see football games. I’m pushing very hard for Big Ten, I want to see Big Ten open – let the football games – let them play sports. But no, it’s going to disappear, George.”

“It would go away without the vaccine, George, but it’s going to go away a lot faster with it,” Trump said ...

https://deadline.com/2020/09/donald-trump-coronavirus-claims-race-relations-abc-news-town-hall-george-stephanopoulos-joe-biden-1234577679/

[Laelth]

10. Another great news-synopsis thread. Thank you. n/t

-Laelth

[2naSalit]

11. And does not give a damn about all those...

Whose lives have been ruined by either dying or being affected by death in family or by losing jobs and homes from evictions, and hurricanes and fires.

He does not care.