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It came off less like a split screen than a breach in the political universe – “Die Hard” versus “It’s a Wonderful Life.” At the edge of his seat at his town hall in Miami, Donald Trump refused to disavow QAnon, the far-right conspiracy theory, and sidestepped questions about his coronavirus tests. On a more sober, distant stage in Philadelphia, Biden criticized Trump’s response to the pandemic and discussed the intricacies of racial injustice. (Siders and Kumar, 10/15)

The presidential rivals took questions in different cities on different networks: Trump on NBC from Miami, Biden on ABC from Philadelphia. Trump backed out of plans for the presidential faceoff originally scheduled for the evening after debate organizers said it would be held virtually following his COVID-19 diagnosis. The town halls offered a different format for the two candidates to present themselves to voters, after the pair held a chaotic and combative first debate late last month. The difference in the men’s tone was immediate and striking. (Weissert and Superville, 10/16)

In Miami, NBC moderator Savannah Guthrie grilled Trump for 18 minutes before opening the forum to audience members' questions. The president squirmed, chafed, and sarcastically called her "cute." When Guthrie asked Trump if he had taken a COVID-19 test on the day of his debate with Biden, he dodged: "Possibly I did. Possibly I didn’t.” When she asked if he had pneumonia during his COVID-19 illness, he said, "No, but they said the lungs are little bit different, a little bit – perhaps infected." (Shesgreen, Morin, Santucci and King, 10/15)

In one of the most notable exchanges, [Trump] said he did not know about QAnon, a loose-knit online community that was recently banned from Facebook after sharing false stories, including ones about Democrats abusing children. Supporters of the group regularly appear with signs and apparel at Trump’s rallies. “They are very strongly against pedophilia, and I agree with that,” he said about the group before attempting to pivot the conversation to talk about left-wing radicals like self-described anti-fascist protesters. (Sherer, Johnson and Dawsey, 10/15)

In the approximately 20 minutes before the town hall was turned over to audience questions, [NBC's Savannah] Guthrie thoroughly grilled him. As Trump repeated false claims about the coronavirus outbreak and equivocated on things like QAnon and accepting the election results, Guthrie peppered him with sharp questions, follow-ups and fact checks. When Trump claimed that a study showed 85 percent of people who wear masks still get the coronavirus, Guthrie noted he falsely characterized the study. When Trump defended his pandemic response by citing another study that showed 2 million people could have died of the coronavirus, Guthrie rightly noted that model predicted that only if the government did precisely zero mitigation. (Blake and Scott, 10/15)

After 20 minutes of Ms. Guthrie’s grilling, Mr. Trump’s advisers appeared concerned. His communications director, Alyssa Farah, approached Ms. Guthrie during the first commercial break, and then joined three other aides gathered with the president onstage. Even as Ms. Guthrie solicited questions from voters, she kept up the pressure, cajoling Mr. Trump into a sidelong acknowledgment of a New York Times report about his $400 million debt load, which he previously had refused to confirm. And she confronted him with a concern that even some of his allies share: “You’re the president,” Ms. Guthrie said. “You’re not someone’s crazy uncle who can retweet whatever.” (Grynbaum and Koblin, 10/15)

Biden, speaking to voters in Philadelphia on ABC, blamed the Republican president for concealing the deadliness of the virus.“ He said he didn’t tell anybody because he was afraid Americans would panic,” Biden said. “Americans don’t panic. He panicked.” Trump defended both his response to the pandemic as well as his own personal conduct, including staging a Rose Garden event at the White House where few wore masks or practiced social distancing, which resulted in numerous attendees contracting the disease. (Holland and Martina, 10/15)

Mr. Biden meanwhile criticized Mr. Trump for sending mixed messages about public health guidelines and for rarely wearing a mask. “The words of a president matter,” Mr. Biden said. “When a president doesn’t wear a mask…people say, ‘Well it mustn’t be that important.’” (Siddiqui and Ballhaus, 10/15)

In his appearance, Mr. Biden also confronted a number of issues that have been challenging for him to address throughout the campaign, including his views on expanding the Supreme Court and his record on the 1994 crime bill. Mr. Biden has recently dodged questions on the issue of court packing, insisting that his focus is instead on potential judicial threats to the Affordable Care Act and at times responding brusquely when pressed on the issue. But on Thursday, under questioning from George Stephanopoulos of ABC, he appeared to say that he would clarify his position on expanding the Supreme Court before Election Day. “They do have a right to know where I stand,” he said, “and they’ll have a right to know where I stand before they vote.” (Burns and Glueck,10/15)