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There Was One Slight Problem With Fox News' Town Hall Event With Trump

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  September 05, 2024 6:50 AM

 Former President Donald Trump was supposed to debate Vice President Kamala Harris on Fox News last night. The latter chickened out, opting to hold a campaign event in New Hampshire where the Harris operation had to bus people in because this was the fakest campaign in modern American political history. Why is she wasting time in a state that’s safe for Democrats? Who knows, but Trump decided to hold a town hall event with host Sean Hannity, though a typical problem arose anytime the former president takes the floor: there wasn’t enough time. 

One hour with Trump in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, isn’t enough time, especially given all the issues that are on the table in this election, thanks to the destructive idiocy of the Biden White House. The world is aflame, we’re poorer than we were four years ago, and we’re dealing with an illegal alien invasion. Trump was right to point out that no country has let in 21 million people over three-and-a-half years. Mass deportation is now favored among a majority of voters, including Hispanics. What was long considered a pie-in-the-sky immigration initiative might need to become a priority due to national security issues. Operational control of the border must be restored. Trump spoke briefly on the situation in Aurora, Colorado, where Venezuelan gangs are taking over the city. 

Whether questions from the audiences were on the agenda is now irrelevant: they ran out of time, but Hannity did ask a good question about the core message of the Trump campaign in 2024. In 2016, it was about the forgotten man, the rural voter long disregarded by the political class. Most of these people, who had never voted, were animated by Trump; the rest is history. The people long relegated to the back of debates and socioeconomic issues got their man in the White House. 

Trump told Hannity it’s still about forgotten Americans and making America great. There wasn’t enough time to flesh out that answer, like how inflation will be tackled, how to get consumer and small business confidence back to the historic highs we saw under Trump, and how to redefine America’s role in the world. Biden may say America is back, but no one knows what that means. This administration has yet to outline a coherent exit strategy and the goals concerning our quagmire in Ukraine. 

Trump knew how to wield the power of the presidency. That’s beyond dispute since Biden quit, forced out by party bosses, donors, and top Democrats. The institutional advantages make it so that any president who knows what he’s doing could squash internal rebellions. When has Biden ever used the bully pulpit well, if at all? 

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Due to time constraints, all of these things and more were left out of the discussion, but Trump’s town hall was longer than Kamala Harris’ appalling CNN interview with Dana Bash, which lasted barely 20 minutes. It was vintage Trump, which meant the liberal media didn’t understand a word of it, though who cares? Trump could have spoken with learned diction since 2016—these people would still hate him. 

One thing is clear: the momentum is with Trump. The crowd was energized and uproarious. The former president mentioned wanting to win New Hampshire in 2024. Sir, focus on winning the Keystone State. That’s the knockout blow in a few months.

UPDATE: I know part II on Thursday will feature audience questions. Again, there won't be enough time. That's how badly Biden has wrecked this country.