Pérez Art Museum Miami Hosts Joe Biden
The town hall meeting hosted by NBC's Lester Holt aired on MSNBC, CNBC, NBC News NOW and in Spanish on Telemundo's digital platforms
Last night, NBC News’ Lester Holt held a live town hall meeting with presidential candidate Joe Biden at the Pérez Art Museum Miami, putting the esteemed institute on a national platform not only for its visual collections but also for civic affairs. The one-hour event titled “Decision 2020: Joe Biden Town Hall” aired on MSNBC, CNBC, NBC News NOW and was available in Spanish on Telemundo’s digital platforms. A masked audience made up of undecided voters sat seemingly more than six feet apart on the sprawling, outdoor deck that surrounds the waterfront structure. For this event, the space was draped in dramatic blue and red lighting, with white stars both projected and placed around the floor. It’s the same area that has in the past, pre-pandemic times hosted hundreds of philanthropists and partygoers for occasions such as Art Basel and the museum’s Art of the Party gala, which this year is scheduled for March 13, 2021.
Holt moderated as Biden answered citizen concerns, including those pivotal to Miami’s economy. As for its heavy reliance on travel and tourism, Biden addressed a question about airline layoffs by pointing to congressional legislation that provided funding to sanitize aircraft but a Department of Transportation that denied a mask requirement. Biden said, “It’s within our power….We have to provide funding for people caught in the lurch. President got great medical care but everyone who contracts Covid should have their bills paid.”
And when the subject was defunding the police, Biden said he was one of few who advocates increasing budgets for goals such as sending psychiatrists along with police on calls. “The vast majority of police,” said Biden, “are honorable men and women who risk their lives every day when they put on a badge and walk out that door, they have a right to come home safely but there’s bad apples in every profession ….I don’t know any police department around that doesn’t want to get rid of a lousy cop, it just reflects on them. Same with the protesters. Once you get violent you should be arrested and held accountable. I’m going to bring these people together, police officers, police unions and civil rights leaders, in the White House and sit down to decide what are the things we need to to do help police officers.”
NBC News said in a press release it offered to host a similar town hall event with President Donald Trump.
Brett Graff is SocialMiami.com’s managing editor and has been a journalist covering money, people and power for over 20 years. Graff contributes to national media outlets including Reuters, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, Maxim, and the PBS show, Nightly Business Report. A former U.S. government economist, her nationally syndicated column The Home Economist is first published in The Miami Herald and then on the Tribune Content Agency, where it’s available to over 400 publications nationwide. She is broadcast weekly on two iHeartRadio news shows and is the author of “Not Buying It: Stop Overspending & Start Raising Happier, Healthier, More Successful Kids,” a parenting guide for people who might be tempted to buy their children the very obstacles they’re trying to avoid.
