Trump desperately tries to lower expectations for ‘major fake’ NBC town hall

Donald Trump at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. White House Photo by Tia Dufour.

President Donald Trump is desperate to lower expectations for Thursday night's town hall, which he is doing for NBC News.

Hours before it is slated to begin Trump tweeted, calling it a "major Fake" forum.

The President does not perform well in town halls, where real voters ask him real life questions. Trump has demonstrated little grasp over policy matters, instead preferring to establish a shared victimization relationship with his supporters as he increasingly complains how everything is unfair for him, a billionaire real estate magnate and supposed leader of the free world.

Trump was also quick to attack C-SPAN political editor and host of "Washington Week," Steve Scuilly, who just admitted to lying after being caught tweeting with Anthony Scaramucci to ask advice about responding to Trump's attacks.

I will be doing a major Fake @NBCNews Town Hall Forum, live tonight from Miami, at 8:00 P.M. They asked me to do it… https://t.co/YoTiZDjVJL
— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump)1602793888.0

Earlier on Thursday Trump told North Carolina voters he is only doing the town hall because it's a “free hour of television” for him. He then attacked several NBC News employees. He called NBC's parent company, Comcast, "Concast."

This is how Trump is previewing his town hall: "You know, I'm being set up tonight. I'm doing this town hall with C… https://t.co/bosNhFVoXJ
— Brian Stelter (@Brian Stelter)1602787541.0

Trump's town hall last month on ABC did not go well for him:

During an ABC News Town Hall, President Donald Trump tried to attack Joe Biden for not issuing a national mask mand… https://t.co/dvvp5rub3y
— HuffPost (@HuffPost)1600263660.0

NBC News is under fire for giving Trump a town hall after the President withdrew from the official second debate because it had been turned into a virtual event when the President was diagnosed with coronavirus.

Park: Three Yellowstone wolves killed in first week of Montana’s hunting season

Yellowstone National Park wolf biologists report that the park's Junction Butte Pack (27 wolves) lost three wolves to Montana hunters during the first week of Montana's wolf hunting season, according to a news release from the park. Yellowstone said the Junction Butte Pack transcends Yellowstone's northern range and is the most viewed wolf pack in the world.

Multiple recent overflights conducted by the park confirmed the pack size has been reduced from 27 to 24 animals, losing two female pups and one female yearling, according to a news release from Yellowstone National Park. The release said Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks confirms three wolves were killed outside of Yellowstone in the general vicinity of where the Junction Butte Pack was traveling in mid-September.

Yellowstone wolves in the northern range spend an estimated 5% of the time outside the park, usually in late fall. For over a decade, the state of Montana limited the number of wolves taken from Montana wolf management units 313 (Gardiner) and 316 (Cooke City), which are immediately adjacent to the park's northern boundary. Ninety-eight percent of wolves in Montana are outside units 313 and 316. Recent state changes to hunting and trapping have lifted restrictions within these units making Yellowstone's wolf population in the northern range extremely vulnerable, Yellowstone said. Montana has also authorized baiting from private property. Over 33% of the boundary Yellowstone shares with Montana is within one mile of private property where baiting is now permissible.

“Yellowstone plays a vital role in Montana's wildlife conservation efforts and its economy. These wolves are part of our balanced ecosystem here and represent one of the special parts of the park that draw visitors from around the globe," said Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Cam Sholly in a statement. “We will continue to work with the state of Montana to make the case for reinstating quotas that would protect the core wolf population in Yellowstone as well as Montana's direct economic interests derived from the hundreds of millions spent by park visitors each year."

Visitor spending within communities that are 50 miles from Yellowstone exceeds $500 million per year, tens of millions of which is spent by visitors coming to watch wolves and supporting Montana businesses in gateway communities, the park said.

The Junction Butte Pack formed in 2012 in the northern section of the park. The park said they are the most observed pack in Yellowstone because they den within view of the Northeast Entrance Road and the road to Slough Creek Campground, providing thousands of visitor's daily views. The pack had eight pups in 2021.

Daily Montanan is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on Facebook and Twitter.

Michigan Republicans avoid tough questions as they beg lobbyists and multi-millionaires for cash

Real news is rarely made at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, an ostentatious Michigan schmoozefest where politicians beg lobbyists and multi-millionaires for cash and thirsty lesser-known candidates sometimes ditch their contempt for the media and do interviews in hopes they'll break out of single-digits in polling.

Don't get me wrong — it's not always boring. Sometimes political operatives get punched there.

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Federal investigators begin probe of fatal Montana Amtrak crash

Federal investigators studying a violent Amtrak derailment that killed three and injured dozens on Saturday near the small Hi-Line towns of Chester and Joplin have their work cut out for them.

The National Transportation Safety Board, an independent federal oversight body that probes air and surface transportation crashes, took over the scene from local emergency managers on Monday, and 14 NTSB investigators will spend around a week on site combing for information about the crash, officials said Monday. Only once this assessment is complete will the section of BNSF-owned track at the site of the derailment resume operation, a priority for a region connected by rail along the Hi-Line.

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Trump desperately tries to lower expectations for ‘major fake’ NBC town hall

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Michigan Republicans avoid tough questions as they beg lobbyists and multi-millionaires for cash

Federal investigators begin probe of fatal Montana Amtrak crash

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