Republican party, since 1988, has agreed to and complied with the rules of those debates as set by the commission. Until tonight. Donald trump refused to comply with the commissions rules for the debate that was scheduled for tonight, and he became, donald trump became the very first president ial candidate in the history of the commission to drop out of a debate scheduled by the commission on president ial debates. And after donald trump dropped out of that debate, joe biden became available for and agreed to doing a 90minute town hall on abc that was scheduled for tonight at 8 00 p. M. Several days after that, donald trump reached an agreement with nbc to appear at a town hall at the same time. And what happened on this night tonight in president ial Campaign History was exactly what the commission on president ial debates was designed to avoid. Voters forced to decide which candidate they should watch in dueling television forums chosen by the candidates. Since the trump town hall was simulcast on this network at 8 00 p. M. , we will spend this hour focusing on what joe biden had to say tonight in his 90minute town hall at the Constitution Center in philadelphia. The words of a president matter. Absolutely. No matter whether theyre good, bad, or indifferent, they matter. And when a president doesnt wear a mask, or makes fun of folks like me when i was wearing a mask for a long time, then, you know, people say, well, it mustnt be that important. When a president says, i think this is very important, for example, i walked in here with this mask, but i have one of the n95 masks underneath it. Leading off our discussion tonight is symone sanders, Senior Campaign adviser to the Biden Campaign. Symone, thank you so much for joining us tonight. We really appreciate it. Thank you for having me tonight, lawrence. Im glad to hear you watched the biden town hall. It was a tough choice. Symone, i have to ask you about Kate Bedingfield. She was originally scheduled to be here tonight in this spot. She has been reported today to have tested positive for the coronavirus. What do you know about her condition, and what can you tell us generally about others in the Biden Campaign . So, lawrence, i do want a quick correction because Kate Bedingfield is not here because shes actually in philadelphia with the Vice President tonight, coronavirusfree, covid19free. All of our staff are regularly tested as are dr. Biden, joe biden, senator harris, and mr. Emhoff and she does not have a positive test. Who did test positive was senator Harris Communications director, and ive spoken with her today. I know senator harris and Vice President biden have also spoken with her today. Shes doing well. And we are pulling for her. Shes tough. Shes working virtually throughout the day today. So i want folks to know at home that the reason we, folks even have this information, is because we were transparent and, you know, we have been taking necessary precautions since the onset of this pandemic. Weve been wearing masks. Social distancing. Wearing n95 masks. Regularly testing. And these precautions and our exceedingly thorough, frankly, Public Health setup, is the reason that we were able to identify the positives of senator Harris Communications director along with two members of the aviation flight crew that our campaigns do fly on. But ill tell you, lawrence, this is just a stark reminder that this virus is real and all have to make sure were doing everything we can to keep one another safe. The most patriotic thing we can all do is wear a mask and social distance. I will tell you tonight in this town hall, you heard at the beginning about what joe biden would do. His plan, what he would be doing if he were president right now to address and mitigate covid19 and build our economy back better than it was before and his plans on what he and Kamala Harris will do when they are elected. If the people elect them in the next 19 days at this point, lawrence. Symone, im just realizing the reason i blurred the names on that is that it was Kate Bedingfield tweet earlier today where i got this news in the first place. Yes. And so let me let me reset here also to basically kind of a version of an equal time proposition, donald trump was seen on this network for an hour tonight and i want to give you an opportunity, just an open opportunity, to respond to what you saw in that and i have to tell you, i didnt see it, so i dont know how im sure you split your attention somehow between these things. What is your campaigns response to what you saw in the trump town hall tonight . Look, there were two town halls tonight, lawrence, i will tell you, i spent the bulk of my time watching who i believe will be the next president of the United States, joe biden. I will tell you, there were two town halls and we saw two different things. We saw a leader in joe biden. What i saw from President Trump were more lies, more skirting of the issues. At one point, President Trump asserted that the daca program and dreamers were two different things. What i saw in joe biden, though, was someone who understood the nuances of the issues that the American People are dealing with and someone who was so committed to answering the American Peoples questions after almost every question he asked, did i answer your question . Then when the town hall was over, joe biden stayed to answer more questions from voters who didnt get a chance to ask. And folks were taking out note cards. He stayed for more than 30 minutes. So i will just have to tell you that this election is a choice in our opinion, the vision joe biden has set forth, and the leadership the American People have seen over the last four years from President Trump. Every day over the next 19 days joe biden and Kamala Harris are going to be committed to making a forceful case on why everything from covid to health care to our economy, that they are the best choice to build back better than we were before because donald trump, in our opinion, has failed the American People. One of the first questions, think it was the second question of joe biden tonight, was from a republican voter in philadelphia concerned about joe bidens intention to repeal the trump tax cuts. I want to listen to some of what joe biden had to say about taxes. I carry this card with me. When i said the trump tax cuts, about 1. 3 trillion of the 2 trillion in those tax cuts went to the top 0. 1 of 1 . Thats what im talking about eliminating. Not all the tax cuts that are out there. And by the way, if you just take a look, we reduced the Corporate Tax rate. From 35 , and democrats, republicans were in office thought it should come down to 28 . He reduced it to 21 . You have 91 out of the every fortune 500 companies not paying a single solitary penny. If you raise the Corporate Taxes back to 28 , which is a fair tax, youd raise 1,300,000,000 by that one act. You can raise a lot of money to be able to invest in things that can make your life easier. So, symone, whose taxes are going up under the biden plan . Let me be very clear, lawrence, if you make more than 400,000 under the biden plan, your taxes are going to go up. Joe biden is not going to raise taxes on anyone who makes less than 400,000. And what the clip you just played right there was Vice President biden really getting into the weeds, laying out for not just the folks at the town hall, but the American People where he stands on the trump tax cuts. 1. 3 trillion of the 2 billion tax cut, yes, joe biden is going to repeal that. Why . Because those tax cuts went to the wealthiest folks in this country. And joe biden believes that they need to pay their fair share. And when hes president , thats exactly what is going to happen. Lets listen to George Stephanopoulos questioning joe biden about his plans for the Supreme Court in the future and the possibility of expanding the number of seats on the Supreme Court above the nine that is now in place. Lets watch this. Well, right now looks like theyre going to have a vote around halloween, so if they vote on it thats an appropriate day. If they vote on it before the election, you are open to expanding the court . Im open to considering what happens from that point on. You know, you said so many times during the campaign, all through the course of your career, its important to level it is. George, if i if i say no matter what answer i gave you, if i say it, thats the headline tomorrow. It wont be about whats going on now. The improper way theyre proceeding. But dont voters have a right to know where they do have a right to know where i stand. Theyll have a right to know where i stand before they vote. So youll come out with a clear position before election day . Yes, depending on how they handle this, but, look, what you should do is you got to make sure you vote and vote for a senator who, in fact, thinks, reflects your general view on constitutional interpretation and vote for a president who you think is more in line with you. Symone, can you clarify that for voters, how they should think about what will happen if the republicans confirm Donald Trumps current nominee to the Supreme Court . What will joe biden do if hes sworn in next year . Well, look, lawrence, so i want to be clear that i dont think the Vice President said anything new here tonight. What joe biden has been saying since the republicans decided to rush through the confirmation for the nominating process of judge amy coney barrett, is what he has been saying is this, that the American People deserve to be heard. And joe biden stands with the majority of the American People, lawrence, and they believe that we should fill that seat in the white house before filling the seat on the Supreme Court. And so were squarely focused on the voters, as you know, folks are voting right now. Nearly 20 Million People have already cast a ballot in this election. And joe biden is going to stay squarely focused on the conversation about voters, about what they care about because for those folks, this Supreme Court conversation, the nomination of a justice, is about health care. Is about choice. Is about voting rights. Is about the ability to marry the person you love on saturday and not be fired from your job on monday. And those are the issues hes going to continue to talk about and those are the positions that, you know, hes going to defend if elected president. I want to take a look at a question from a voter who asked him about young black voters who are not enthusiastic, to put it mildly, is the way this question was phrased about voting for him. Lets listen to this. What do you have to say to young black voters who see voting for you as further participation in a system that continually fails to protect them . Well, i say first of all as my buddy john lewis said, its a sacred opportunity to right the vote, you can make a difference. If young black women and men vote, you can determine the outcome of this election. Not a joke. You can do it. The next question is, am i worthy of your vote . Can i earn your vote . The answer is, there are two things i care i demonstrated i care about my whole career. One is in addition to dealing with criminal Justice System to make it fair, and make it more decent, we have to be able to put black americans in a position to be able to gain wealth. Generate wealth. And so you look at what that entails. Entails everything from early education, thats why im supporting making sure that we in title i schools, as you know, schools with the least tax base to be able to support their schools. Symone, his joe bidens answer went on, as you know, from there. As all of his answers did. They were all of them were several minutes long, as i saw them. What is your sense of how to reach voters like that who are asking joe biden about at this point in october this close to the election, theyre still feeling whats in this for me . Look, lawrence, i think its a fair question for voters to ask. What that young man in philadelphia was asking tonight is what plans do you have, what is the commitment youre making . Why should i vote for you . And i believe that what Vice President biden went on to do was make a very forceful case on what his commitment is. He talked about Building Wealth in black and latino communities. He talked about his plan for tripling funding to title i schools. He talked about his plan for 15,000 advanceable tax credit. Plan to give 70 billion, yes, billion with a b, to historically black colleges and universities and minority serving institutions and then invest further in those universities so they can serve as innovation incubators for engineers and the new technologies, new emerging technologies. Our hbcus and minorityserving institutions are really educating some of the best and brightest in our country. I mean, look, senator Kamala Harris is an hbcu graduate, and so i think what voters are looking for is a commitment and joe biden tonight, as he regularly does on the campaign trail, always, i would argue, gave that to the people. And he i just think he did such a great job. He was strong and such a contrast from what voters saw from donald trump this evening. Symone sanders, Senior Adviser to the Biden Campaign. Thank you very, very much, for joining us tonight. We really appreciate it. Thanks for having me. And we will have much more on the biden town hall and the state of the 2020 race with our panel of political experts who all watched the biden town hall tonight, and at the end of the hour tonight, we will be joined by someone who is leaving William BarrsJustice Department. We will get his reaction to what joe biden said tonight about how he would expect the Justice Department to run in a Biden Administration. The biggest carbon sink in the world is the amazon. More carbon absorbed from the air diminishing Global Warming in the amazon than all the carbon emitted on a yearly bay basis in the United States of america. All vehicles and all means. We have to use our imaginations. We have to move in the direction as well providing for electric vehicles. Electric vehicles will save billions of gallons of oil, create estimated, not me, wall street, 1 million automobile jobs. Joining us now, renee graham. Opinion columnist and associate editor for the boston globe. Stuart stevens with us, the chief strategist for mitt romneys 2012 president ial campaign. And a veteran of many other campaigns. Hes the author of it was all a lie. I believe is the title. It was all a lie how the Republican Party became donald trump. Maria teresa kumar is with us, president and ceo of voto latino. Shes an msnbc contributor. Renee, let me start with you. What was what from the way you saw the biden town hall, what do you see as the highlight . I think it was the way he approached it. It was classic joe biden. The decency, the respect, the empathy, the details. You know, joe biden could strike up a conversation with a stray dog, you know, and thats what he does best. And so answering peoples questions, in some cases giving them even more than what they might have bargained for, but really going deep into what his plans are, what his policies are to distinguish himself from the Current Administration, i think is really what he did best tonight and, you know, i think its what people need. He got to say everything tonight he didnt get to say in the first president ial debate. And maria teresa, we just bumped in with that piece of joe biden on talking about Climate Change and taking it from the amazon to the Auto Industry to wall street in a matter of seconds in a way that was very clear, easy to follow, clear policy and im going to have to assume nothing like what we heard from donald trump tonight or what people who listen to that heard from donald trump. Yeah, i have to share with you, i did listen a little bit to donald trump. I was aghast when he said 85 of people who wear masks can still get the coronavirus. I mean, dead wrong. Seeing that contrast to joe biden who brought policy detail and whos tackling one of the biggest issues that have had so many barriers in being accomplished in our policymaking and that is Climate Change. And he was able to ground it and say, look, we need to be at the table, but by being at the table and making sure that were addressing Climate Change, we can also bring the mostneeded jobs, the infrastructure that were going to need. That is what the American People are looking for. At the work that we do at voto latino, the three things that are mobilizing latinos right now is health care under covid, jobs and recovery and racial inequities that are facing the latino and black communities.