Town hall ignites fierce debate: Why must Harris be ‘flawless’ while Trump goes ‘lawless?’

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A town hall analysis breaking down the policies Kamala Harris was asked about Wednesday night abruptly flipped into a discussion about the inconsistencies in how the vice president and Donald Trump are being treated, with one CNN panelist declaring: “They’re not taking the same exam.”

“He gets to be lawless, she has to be flawless. That’s what’s unfair. That’s what’s unfair tonight,” said former Obama White House official Van Jones. “They’re not taking the same exam. Look, she has policies, she may not articulate them perfectly every time…but she’s fighting for actual ideas that will help real people and he’s talking about people’s penises, and so they are not taking the same exam and that’s pissing people off – it’s pissing me off.”

The moment came just after Harris wrapped up a town hall with CNN’s Anderson Cooper that was originally scheduled as a presidential debate before Trump dropped out and later refused to commit to holding his own town hall with the network.

While the issue of a double standard between the two presidential candidates emerged early on in the network’s post-debate analysis – and flared up on social media – it was former Trump adviser David Urban’s criticism of Harris’ comments involving her openness to ending the filibuster for Roe v. Wade purposes that fired up Jones.

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“Donald Trump said he’s gonna be a dictator and you’re worried about…” Jones said before Urban cut in.

“Ending the filibuster is a big deal,” the longtime Trump supporter said.

“But she didn’t say she was going to, she said she’d look at it, she’s studying things,” Jones replied.

Urban countered by saying that voters want specifics from her message of wanting to “turn the page.”

Harris supporters on social media thanked the CNN panel for highlighting the double standard.

“I want to thank some of the folks on CNN for calling out the massive double standard of how Harris needs to be flawless as Trump is lawless. Like he didn’t even show up for your townhall or your debate,” Neera Tanden, a Democratic political consultant and former government official posted on social media.

“YES it’s a double std,” former Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA) wrote on X. “Thank you @jaketapper for noticing that Dictator on Day One Revenge Tour Trump gets a pass on everything and his supporters say he doesn’t mean what HE says he means. Not just graded on a curve. He flunks every day and gets a pass.”

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