Contemporaneous coverage of NBC’s October 15, 2020 Trump town hall consistently described moderator Savannah Guthrie’s approach as unusually tough and adversarial, matching the prediction that NBC would “come out swinging.”

• Multiple mainstream outlets called it one of Trump’s toughest grillings as president. The Washington Post wrote that fears of a free pro‑Trump infomercial were unfounded because it became “one of the toughest grillings he has faced as president,” with Guthrie repeatedly challenging his evasions on topics like white supremacy, COVID‑19 deaths, and taxes.(washingtonpost.com) CBS News similarly said Guthrie gave Trump “one of the most aggressive interviews he’s experienced as president.”(cbsnews.com) CNBC’s write‑up described an “intense line of questioning” and noted Guthrie “grilling” Trump from the outset.(cnbc.com) The Guardian emphasized that she fact‑checked him in real time and “pushed back” on his rhetoric in ways he rarely faced.(theguardian.com)

• Conservative and pro‑Trump commentators also framed the town hall as an aggressive attempt to take him down, reinforcing that the tone was perceived as combative. Sean Hannity opened his show by calling it an “ambush,” saying Trump had effectively debated Guthrie, whom he labeled “Joe Biden’s surrogate.”(thewrap.com) Other Fox and right‑leaning figures said she was “badgering,” “embarrassing,” and acting as a “debate opponent,” and compared NBC’s town hall to an “interrogation” versus ABC’s “picnic” with Biden.(thedailybeast.com)

• Coverage explicitly linked Guthrie’s tough performance to NBC’s need to offset or atone for the controversial decision to give Trump a simultaneous prime‑time platform opposite Biden. NBC had been heavily criticized, including by its own staff, for scheduling the dueling town hall.(journalism.arizona.edu) Post‑event analysis noted that Guthrie’s “grilling” helped “take the heat off NBC for its town hall” and that she served as the face of a network decision many critics thought was not in the public interest.(journalism.arizona.edu) This is broadly in line with the user’s phrasing that NBC would try to “take down Trump” as a form of “penance.” While NBC’s internal motives can’t be proven, the observable outcome (a notably aggressive, prosecutorial town hall that reduced some of the backlash toward the network) matches that prediction.

Because the central, testable part of the prediction—NBC would “come out swinging” in a highly aggressive, challenging format toward Trump during that specific town hall—was borne out by both supportive and critical contemporaneous accounts, it is reasonable to judge the prediction as right, even though the subjective motive (“penance”) cannot be definitively verified.