Donald Trump And Joe Biden?s Town Halls Were Very Split

President Donald Trump talks with voters after an NBC News Town Hall at Perez Art Museum Miami, Thursday, Oct. 15 in Miami.On a night they were to debate each other, President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden instead split up for their own dueling town hall forums that seemed to exist in completely different realities.Programmed against each other in primetime — Trump on NBC, Biden on ABC — the candidates could not have offered more divergent messages in terms of tone, temperament, and substance. Asked by ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos if he’ll have a firm public position before Election Day, Biden said, “Yes, depending on how they handle this.”Trump’s early equivocations in his own town hall were about masks. I know that study,” Guthrie interjected.“That’s what I heard, and that’s what I saw,” Trump said.When Guthrie brought up the fact many rally attendees go maskless, the president deferred to two people whom Sen. Kamala Harris, Biden’s running mate, has been physically close to testing positive.“She’s got people now — that people have it. If you want to hang out afterwards, I'll tell you more.”Later in the night, Biden turned contemplative when asked how, if he loses to Trump, he’d use his platform to keep working toward “the ideals of a more perfect union.”“Well, to be very honest with you, I think that's very hard,” he replied.Biden talked of returning to academia, where he spent time after his vice presidency at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Delaware, “focusing on these same issues relating to what constitutes decency and honor in this country.”Trump and Biden are scheduled to debate once more, on Oct. 22 in Nashville. But the president and the White House have repeatedly dodged questions about when his last negative test was before that positive test — and Trump again declined to clarify Thursday under questioning from Guthrie.Biden, in response to a question from Stephanopoulos, said he expects Trump to test negative on Oct. 22 before their debate.“It’s just decency,” Biden said, “to be able to determine whether or not you're clear.”Henry Gomez is a political reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Cleveland, Ohio.