MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

#FireChuckTodd trends as NBC host chooses Trump town hall in clash with Biden's ABC event

NBC announced that it would be hosting Trump's town hall event at the same time slot as Biden's ABC town hall, at 8 pm ET

Enraged social media users ripped into NBC News political director Chuck Todd for his apparent role in the town hall scheduling clash between President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden. In fact, the outrage caused the hashtag #FireChuckTodd to trend on Twitter on Thursday, October 15. Following the cancellation of a "virtual" second presidential debate, the network announced on Wednesday, October 14 that it would be hosting Trump's town hall event at the same time slot as Biden's own town hall event that is being hosted by ABC.

The president's town hall event will reportedly be anchored by NBC News Today host Savannah Guthrie. Meanwhile, Biden's will be chaired by ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos. Both town hall events are slated to air at 8.00 pm ET on October 15. Todd hosts 'Meet the Press', a public affairs show running since 1947 that does political reporting and analysis based on research conducted by the NBC News politics team.

CNN anchor Brian Stelter claimed he was told that an NBC exec had contacted ABC asking for the former vice president's town hall to be rescheduled to 9.00 pm from 8.00 pm ET. "On Wednesday evening, I'm told, an NBC exec reached out to their ABC counterpart to see if ABC would be willing to shift the Biden town hall to 9 pm. Nope. ABC was first, and made a commitment to the Biden campaign. Why change now to help bail out NBC?" he tweeted.

Investigative journalist Carl Bernstein, known for his reportage on the Watergate scandal, suggested that the broadcaster was being "conned" by the president. "How is that NBC News has allowed itself to get conned by Donald Trump and (as of 11 pm Wednesday) continues to abrogate the public trust by not re-scheduling or taping-and-delaying broadcast, or canceling if Trump continues to demand the network's obeisance?" he tweeted.

Anti-Trump activists also inundated Twitter with calls to fire Todd for organizing the Trump town hall. "#FireChuckTodd is trending. How many know the women at @MSNBC — Joy Reid, Nicolle Wallace, Rachel Maddow — all have advanced degrees, but Chuck Todd & Brian Williams have no degrees. Todd was mentored by Tim Russert & brought into cable by Chris Matthews. White men always fail up," journalist Victoria Brownworth tweeted.

"Dear @nbc. I am a faithful watcher of @MSNBC. Hours every day. Your decision to hold a town hall with Trump at the same time as Biden is inexcusable. I’ll be watching @CNN from now on. Oh and #FireChuckTodd," one user wrote. "I am a daily MSNBC watcher. How @msnbc and @nbc can reward the petulant child in the WH with his own town hall is ridiculous. He REFUSED to abide by the rules of the scheduled debate. And now you reward him with this??!! You’ve lost me as a viewer. #FireChuckTodd," another added. "Before finding out about NBC letting Trump bullshit his way through a townhall, Chuck Todd was almost my breaking point with the network. Now I find out Chuck Todd organized the town hall. Hahahahaha. F**k off, @nbc, and you too, Chuck. #FireChuckTodd," a third chimed in.