Live updates: Campaigns attempt to sway voters at APIAVote town hall

The highly-anticipated forum is a rare opportunity for the Biden and Trump campaigns to court thousands of AANHPI voters

By Andrew Peng, Andrew Huang, and Cheyenne Cheng

Welcome to The Yappie’s live coverage of APIAVote’s fourth presidential town hall (we are a supporting organization). Today, former Vice President Joe Biden (D) and Trump campaign surrogate Eddie Baza Calvo (R) — the former governor of Guam —will court more than 5,000 AANHPI voters, organizers, and community leaders. Subscribe to our AAPI politics briefing for updates and support our work.

5:00pm ET: Calvo struggles to justify Trump’s absence, calls for ‘confidence’ in the president

• Former governor of Guam Eddie Baza Calvo defended President Trump’s decision not to appear at Saturday’s APIAVote’s presidential town hall, and said that the Trump campaign believed it to be “important” to send an AAPI representative.
• “I represent a microcosm of the Trump campaign,” the Trump surrogate said. “What better to represent the Trump campaign than a guy from Guam?”
• Calvo on Biden appearing directly: “This organization is Asian American Pacific Islander. I’m thankful the Vice President came, but he’s not AAPI.”
• More: “There’s a lot of people criticizing President Trump, but he doesn’t stay in a basement,” Calvo said. “He’s actually going out and meeting people.”
• Closing pitch: “Have confidence in President Trump. He appointed me — an Asian and Pacific Islander — as a surrogate,” Calvo concluded. “He will remember us… he doesn’t forget the forgotten ones.”

4:34pm ET: Calvo predicts more AAPI diversity if Trump is re-elected

• Trump campaign surrogate Eddie Baza Calvo — the former governor of Guam — is continuing to address thousands of AANHPI voters. Here’s a quick recap on the issues being covered:
• On diversity in the Trump administration: “I can’t predict who the president is going to appoint in major cabinet positions,” Calvo notes, but “I’ve seen a heck of a lot more diversity“ which will grow under the second term.
• On North Korea: “President Trump drew a line in the deep blue Pacific,” Calvo says. “Now there are no more threats.”
• On Pacific Islander representation: Calvo says that the Trump administration has increased its efforts to work with AAPIs in the territories, who lack many basic citizenship rights.
• On Obamacare: Calvo claimed that President Trump is protecting patients with pre-existing conditions — though the Trump administration urged the Supreme Court to strike down the Affordable Care Act in a brief late Thursday.
• On division: Calvo pinned the looting in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd on “Democratic bosses” and “supporters of Joe Biden,” but did not provide any evidence to support the claim. He said there was no violence in Guam.
• Why AAPIs should vote GOP: “America will be continue to prosper and be that beacon of hope and greatness for the world” if President Trump is re-elected, Calvo says. “Some may disagree with his style, but results speak for itself… I’ve witnessed more progress in two years of Trump administration [on] lower taxes, economic opportunity zones.”

4:09pm ET: Calvo defends Trump’s racist ‘kung flu’ comments, which activists say put Asian Americans in danger

• Former Guam governor and Trump campaign surrogate Eddie Baza Calvo appeared to defend President Trump’s use of the racist phrase “kung flu” in his opening remarks at APIAVote’s presidential town hall.
• Details: “If you look at history… the kung flu comment was even made in the Obama administration,” Calvo said, before being swiftly corrected by NBC News correspondent Vicky Nguyen. “I think with words, you’ve got to be very careful with words… but you’ve got to look at the actions of the Trump administraiton. The results speak for themselves.”
• Calvo added that he was “very confident” about the Trump campaign’s diversity, and justified the president’s remarks as “very unorthodox.”
• Why this matters: AAPI activists say that President Trump’s use of phrases like “Chinese virus” and “kung flu” put Asian Americans at risk, and advocacy groups have received more than 2,300 individual reports of coronavirus-related harassment and discrimination since January. Earlier last week, the president’s rhetoric drew rare condemnation from some Republicans allies like Korean American candidate Young Kim (CA-39).
• Damage: The latest controversy threatens Trump’s standing with Asian American voters, who already give the Republican Party low marks on racial issues across the board.

3:47pm ET: Biden pledges immediate action on immigration

• Former vice president Biden outlined his plans for immigration reform and pledged to take immediate action to undo President Trump’s moves to restrict refugee and visa programs.
• Responding to a question from NBC News correspondent Vicky Nguyen, Biden pledged to send Congress legislation on his first day in office that provide a roadmap to citizenship for 1.7 million AAPI undocumented immigrants.
• Biden also called for a streamlining of the naturalization process, a return of family unification, and a substantial increase of the U.S. refugee cap. He promised to undo President Trump’s recent order freezing H-1B visas for specialized high-skill workers. H-1B visa-holders have “built this country,” he said.

3:40pm ET: Biden slams Trump for xenophobic remarks; will release staff diversity numbers

• Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden says he will release senior staff diversity data after today’s APIAVote town hall event concludes. “My administration is going to look like America,” Biden said in response to a question from PBS NewsHour’s Amna Nawaz. “I’ll make sure AAPI interests are [represented]… from the courtroom to my Cabinet.”
• Attacking Trump: In his opening remarks, Biden highlighted the series of crises facing Asian Americans. “Asian Americans are being targeted with violence and subjected to xenophobic rhetoric from the mouth of the president himself,” he said. “President Trump is fanning the flames of hate and division in this country.”
• “Just look at how the AAPI community, and so many others across this nation, have responded to Trump’s racist attacks during this pandemic — By stepping up. In this moment of national and global crisis…we need a president who can address every aspect of this pandemic with urgency and seriousness — including anti-AAPI bias”
• “Words matter, and the president’s words matter even more,” he added. “Our AAPI communities are essential. Period. Not just as essential workers, but essential to the very fabric of this nation. The AAPI community is essential to our American story.“

3:20pm ET: Candidates must stop racist and violent rhetoric — Rep. Judy Chu

• Congressional Asian Pacific Islander Caucus (CAPAC) chair Rep. Judy Chu (D-California) alluded to President Trump’s use of the racist phrase “kung flu” in opening remarks at APIAVote’s presidential town hall and said that violent rhetoric “has no place in our society.”
• “We need to know what candidates will do to stop hate speech,” the California lawmaker said.
• Context: President Trump’s use of the overt racial slur at rallies in Tulsa and Phoenix signals a dramatic escalation in anti-Asian rhetoric that has ignited both fury from AAPI advocates and ardor from his supporters, the Washington Post’s David Nakamura writes.
• The president is also under fire for labeling the coronavirus as the “Chinese” and “Wuhan virus” — terms activists and AAPI lawmakers say puts Asian Americans at risk. Read more.

3:09pm ET: AAPIs must ‘drown out’ bigotry and apathy — APIAVote executive director

• With just over four months to go before Americans cast their ballots in the 2020 election, Asian Americans face an “urgency to drown out bigotry and apathy,” APIAVote Executive Director Christine Chen said in pre-prepared remarks at the 2020 Presidential Town Hall.
• AAPIs are the fastest-growing racial group and voting block in the U.S., and voters are poised to play a pivitol role in battleground states. The electorate expected to double between 2015 and 2040, from 5.9 million eligible voters to 12.2 million, APIAVote says.

2:50pm ET: Economy, hate crimes, immigration expected to top list of concerns for AANHPI voters

• The Biden and Trump campaigns are set to address voters amid a historic period of chaos and pain for the AANHPI community, which is grappling with coronavirus-related hate crimes, skyrocketing unemployment, and unprecedented rates of anxiety and depression.
• Surging attacks: AAPI advocacy groups and researchers have received over 2,100 individual reports of coronavirus-related harassment and discrimination since January. Read more.
• Unemployment skyrocketing: Widespread closures and layoffs that disproportionately impacted workers of color pushed the Asian unemployment rate to a staggering 15% in May, the U.S. Department of Labor reported earlier this month— the highest level ever recorded. But despite signals that the pain could be felt in the long-term, the Trump administration has maintained a rosy economic outlook for AAPI workers. Read more.
• Coronavirus crisis slams businesses: A new analysis by the JPMorgan Chase institute found that at the end of March, revenues for the typical Asian-owned business were over 60 percent lower than in the prior year, while cash balances fell nearly 22 percent in early April. Earlier in the month, the National Bureau of Economic Research found that the number of Asian business owners dropped by 230,632 from February to April–representing a 26 percent decline.
• Rising anxiety: The rate of Asian Americans showing clinical signs of anxiety or depressive disorders jumped from 28 percent to 34 percent after the police killing of George Floyd, according to the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey — a change that represents an increase of roughly 800,000 people.
• Immigration fights: Last week, President Trump signed a proclamation that extends a “pause” on the issuance of green cards and halts H-1B and other work visas through the end of the year. The Trump administration will also renew its effort to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, despite a Supreme Court ruling blocking its previous attempt. Read more.

2:30pm ET: Here’s what to expect at today’s historic forum

• How to watch the town hall: The virtual event, which begins at 3pm EST (register here), will be co-produced by the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) and streamed live on Facebook, Twitter, and websites maintained by APIAVote, NBC Asian America, PBS NewsHour, and the WORLD Channel (also run by PBS). Viewers will also have access to the event in Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, and Vietnamese.
• Making their case: Biden and Calvo will deliver their pitches via separate, roughly hour-long discussions moderated by PBS NewsHour’s Amna Nawaz and NBC News correspondent Vicky Nguyen — a format similar to previous town halls which began in 2008. Members of the community will also ask questions in the form of pre-recorded videos.
• Why this matters: The highly-anticipated forum is a rare opportunity for the campaigns to address the AANHPI community directly and will focus on a range of policy issues — including health care, discrimination and racism, immigration, and safeguarding the economy. Biden’s choice to participate directly instead of sending a surrogate or pre-taped message is also significant and shows the growing importance of APIAVote’s signature event

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