Bethlehem man questions Trump at president’s Philadelphia town hall

The first question to President Donald Trump during Tuesday’s ABC News town hall in Philadelphia came from a Bethlehem man who described himself as a conservative who thought the president initially did well in responding to the coronavirus pandemic.

But by May, Paul Tubiana had lost confidence in the Trump administration’s response, he said during the 90-minute forum televised Tuesday evening.

“Mr. President, I voted for you in 2016,” said Tubiana, who was identified as a health researcher. “I’m conservative, pro-life and diabetic. I’ve had to dodge people who don’t care about social distancing and wearing face masks. I thought you were doing a good job with the pandemic response until about May 1. Then you took your foot off the gas pedal. Why did you throw vulnerable people like me under the bus?”

“Well, we really didn’t, Paul. We’ve worked very hard on the pandemic,” Trump responded, repeating his recent claims that researchers are close to discovering a vaccine against COVID-19.

“If you want to know the truth, the previous administration would have taken perhaps years to have a vaccine because of the FDA and all the approvals, and we’re within weeks of getting it,” he said, before touting the numbers of tests that have been conducted in the U.S. and displaying a sample of a new test strip.

“I feel that we’ve done a tremendous job, actually,” Trump added.

In an interview afterward with CNN’s Brian Stelter, Tubiana was unimpressed with the president’s response to his question and others throughout the program, describing Trump’s answers as “canned.”

“He didn’t answer anything,” Tubiana told CNN. “Hewas lying through his teeth.”

Tubiana’s question was the first from a series of state voters whom ABC identified as uncommitted in who they will support for president in November’s election.

During the forum at the National Constitution Center, the questioners were seated with rows of empty seats between them to maintain distance. Tubiana lowered his cloth mask to ask a question, and lifted it back to cover his face as he listened to the president’s response. On stage, Trump and host George Stephanopoulos also sat with their chairs distanced.

Pennsylvania is a critical swing state in the November presidential election. Trump wont he state by 44,000 votes four years ago, and recent polls have Democrat Joe Biden leading Trump by an average of 4 percentage points.