THREAD: After two opening questions from Don Lemon, the first audience question at the #BidenTownhall came from a Democrat running for school board who asked "what is your message to those parents, educators and school districts" who are concerned about masks and lack of shots
Second question came from a Republican and pediatrician who in part asked: "So what I want to know is what is the White House doing to combat medical misinformation and to restore America's faith in science?" #BidenTownHall
Third question came from a Democrat newlywed who works in the insurance industry, who made the mistake of bringing his wife along as Biden then promptly checked her out and gave that creepy smile.
They asked about vaccine hesitancy in the Black community. #BidenTownHall
Fourth question came from a Republican college student who, after Biden flirted with her by joking that her dog was a Democrat, asked about how much is the administration concerned about inflation and will ensure the poor and middle classes aren't left behind #BidenTownHall
Fifth question of the #BidenTownhall came from a Democrat who said she was "dismayed at how often Democratic plans...are held hostage by the utopian need to gain bipartisan support" and argued "abandon[ing] the need for bipartisan" is "the right answer."
Sixth question of CNN's #BidenTownhall came from a Republican restauranteur who's been struggling to find enough employees, so Biden proceeds to mock him and chastise him as somehow ungrateful because the government "kept you open" and people don't like your profession anymore
This went on for a few minutes as Biden continued to trash the restaurant industry as a place where fewer and fewer people want to work because they aren't paid enough, telling John Lanni that he better start paying employees at least $15/hr (pre-tip) or else #BidenTownHall
Seventh question came form a union electrician Democrat who wondered if Biden's infrastructure plans would include replacing the Brent Spence Bridge going from Ohio to Kentucky on the Ohio River #BidenTownHall
Eighth question -- while no party ID, this recent college grad was definitely a Democrat since he asked Biden to "get rid of the filibuster so we can protect our democracy and secure the right to vote." #BidenTownHall
Ninth question at CNN's #BidenTownhall came from a Democrat and paralegal advocate who asked about guns: "How will you address gun violence from a federal point of view to actually bring about change and make our local cities safer?"
Tenth question was a real, genuine question that cross both parties. A Democrat who lost her son to illegal opiates wondered what the Biden administration will do to "combat the issue of illegal opiates, many of which our young people buy online" and the mail #BidenTownHall
Eleventh question was yet another Democrat: "Vice President Harris said to Guatemalans don't come. Recently, you have indicated you are in favor of refugees coming to this country. Could you please explain your administration's basic stance on immigration?" #BidenTownHall
And with that, the audience questions were over with. Here's how it broke down along party lines at CNN's #BidenTownHall:
Democrats (including one likely Democrats -- Lemon forgot to give a label): 8
Republicans: 3
/END
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Here was Joy Reid promoting the belief that CRT critics are Q-Anon people, saying opposition to CRT and teaching students to hate themselves are part of the "insidious underbelly of the GQP culture war" and "an all-out war for power" that's "steeped in...white nationalism"
After saying people who disagree with her offer "nothing" on policy, Joy Reid brings on the repulsive human being known as Ben Collins to say parents speaking out against CRT at school board mtgs are Q-Anon white supremacist terrorists. Oppose them? You're the enemy of the people
Collins then argues the campaign against Critical Race Theory and the speeches by parents is the latest work of the Q-Anon movement (and not parents genuinely concerned about the mental health of their kids). Reid replies with more strawmen about how the right views history.
#BREAKING: Jeffrey Toobin RETURNS to CNN and will continue as their chief legal analyst despite having masturbated on a Zoom call. Speaking to Alisyn Camerota, he explains that he "wasn't thinking very well or very much, and it was something that was inexplicable to me."
Jeffrey Toobin on whether he's spoken to those who were on the Zoom call: "They were shocked and appalled. I think they realized that this was not intended for them."
Despite NOT losing his job at CNN, he says he's "privileged" that he will be able to "rebuild" his life.
Alisyn Camerota asks Toobin why he didn't "have better judgment" after having covered the stories of Bill Clinton, Eliot Spitzer, Donald Trump, and Anthony Weiner and Toobin's reply?
"Because I didn't have better judgment. Because I'm a flawed human being who makes mistakes."
#BREAKING: I have a HUGE update to this story about a Univision "reporter" telling Vice President Harris she "voted for" her in November. According to top @UnivisionNews personalities and execs tweeting at @MRCLatino's @BonillaJL, they're claiming she's NOT an actual employee.
This means either one of two things: 1. @UnivisionNews and @UnivisionPRTeam are lying to us and they have a journalistic scandal on their hands.
2. They broke through the @SecretService and the @VP's press team led by @SymoneDSanders, which would mean this was a security breach.
.@MarthaMacCallum is torching NIH Director Francis Collins over #FauciEmails. She asked about one w/the subject line "conspiracy gains momentum" re: the lab theory, but he lamented this is something he "never thought...would become a topic for Fox News" & they never dismissed it
YIKES: NIH Director Collins insists there needs to be "an evidence-based expert-driven open investigation" on the origins of the virus, but @MarthaMacCallum shot back that many claims were shot down if they were from the right. Collins confirms, saying many were too "outrageous"
.@MarthaMacCallum then asks about the NIH funding projects and gain of function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, but Collins gets upset, saying he's "a bit unhappy" and "disturbed" Martha is asking these questions. He adds we should look forward and not look back.
Former Bush official Matthew Dowd says Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and Mitt Romney are insufficiently anti-GOP and, without saying it, demands they join the Democratic Party if they truly love America.
You cannot convince me that Nicolle Wallace doesn't hate if you don't think like she does. Here she is saying that Liz Cheney is insufficiently anti-Trump and anti-GOP and demands she prove her bona fides by helping Democrats pass the For the People Act if she cares about America
To the delight of Joy Reid and Nicolle Wallace, Matthew Dowd the says that, if you're Republican, you therefore support white supremacy and have been doing so since the 1990s when Newt Gingrich and Fox News destroyed America and made it more divisive and racist.
CRAZYTOWN: Joy Reid says you shouldn't believe anything you hear or see from police about the #MakhiaBryant shooting (which would include body camera footage) b/c it could be proven it was all a lie and the office was unjustified.
Besides, Bryant had cute TikTok videos!
NO JOKE...Joy Reid says knife fights happen all the time and people survive!
Reid's guest then condemned the actions of the police officer b/c it was "child here that was involved in an altercation with someone else."
So kids can wield weapons and you should just let them be?
Joy Reid insinuates the Columbus police officers responding to the scene of the #MakhiaBryant shooting had it out for black people because one of them had a Blue Lives Matter mask.
Reid also doubles on how you can't believe what your eyes tell you b/c...police lie all the time?