President Trump’s efforts to reach voters where they are with an increasingly strenuous campaign schedule are being augmented Tuesday with an appearance on Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns TV stations in scores of local markets.
Trump will participate in a question-and-answer session that will air on the network’s stations Wednesday, one day before the final debate between Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
Eric Bolling, host of Sinclair’s America This Week and a longtime friend of Trump’s, helms the hourlong event from the White House Rose Garden. Sinclair will share clips before the full town hall is broadcast Wednesday.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Bolling told the Washington Examiner from the White House ahead of the 3 p.m. event.
The event will grant Trump precious airtime in the crunch before Nov. 3. as he races to overtake Biden’s lead. The former vice president is ahead in national polls and has more money to run ads in the two weeks before Election Day.
Trump has held more than a dozen rallies since recovering from the coronavirus earlier this month, last week holding two or three each day. In a conference call Monday, Trump told staffers he hopes to boost the daily number to as many as five, hitting local towns in a last-minute bid to draw his supporters to the polls.
“We at the Trump campaign recognized, beginning in 2016, the value of local and regional media, and Sinclair is a big piece of that,” said a source close to Trump.
“Every time you see President Trump go to a state or a city for a rally, he more often than not is granting a local or regional interview as well,” the source added. “It is very easy for the national media to miss the presence and the consequence of that — the president is literally coming to a town near you. And then it’s being covered by the local networks, by the local newspapers, the local websites, and that is something — it’s very easy for the national media to miss.”
Sinclair is among the country’s largest local news providers, owning, running, or affiliated with nearly 200 television stations in 89 markets, including NBC, ABC, Fox, and Univision.
In a video shared on Facebook, Bolling showed the Rose Garden’s layout, with chairs spaced out for the participants. The event includes a combination of questions from Bolling and the audience.
Critics have accused the television behemoth of stumping for Trump and his administration, including reports that Sinclair executive David Smith met with the president during the 2016 election year, telling him, “We are here to deliver your message.”
Bolling and Trump’s friendship suggests the potential for an easier discussion than the discussion the president had during a town hall last week on NBC with host Savannah Guthrie. The former Fox News and Fox Business host and commentator has conducted more than a half-dozen interviews with Trump and is a staunch supporter.
