Tonight's debate: better than 2020?

Or another shitshow?

Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s first debate during the 2020 election cycle in Cleveland. -YouTube screengrab via Politico

There has been lots of speculation about how tonight’s presidential debate will shake out. Clearly, the Trump campaign has been trying to heighten expectations that Biden will do well, so that if the former president survives without making as ass of himself, the Trump campaign can claim victory.

Of course, they will have to answer for why they think someone they often dismiss as a doddering old man could be a master debater. The comeback, if you talk to many Trump supporters, is that Biden will be hopped up on drugs — or, as one Missouri congressman suggested, maybe even Mountain Dew. I kid you not. See below:

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) has even suggested Biden will be taking Adderall. She probably doesn’t even realize the irony. According to comedian Noel Casler, who worked for six years with the then-future president on Celebrity Apprentice, in his dressing room Trump routinely snorted Adderall, a prescription amphetamine used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Trump surrogates are also suggesting that the two moderators, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, are Trump haters who will do their best to make the former president look bad. In effect, they’re saying, “It’s three against one.” So if Trump performs poorly, it will be because the moderators ganged up on him and his opponent took a performance enhancing drug. Heads I win; tails you lose.

At any rate, like most of these events, you can expect it will be light on policy and big on personality. We can only hope that the agreed-upon-format, including no in-studio audience and a mic shut-off after the candidate has exhausted his allotted time, will succeed in lending some gravity to the occasion.

I will be live commenting on the debate starting at 9 p.m on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Threads. Meanwhile, here are a few items to review in advance:

• The Stakes Couldn’t Be Higher. Expectations Couldn’t Be Lower. (free link) -Video by Adam Westbrook and Emily Holzknecht, New York Times

• 3 answers to the most challenging debate questions for Joe Biden -Dennis Aftergut and Austin Sarat, Salon

• Biden-Trump Debate Takes Shape as Clash With ‘No Love Lost’ (free link) -Ken Thomas and Alex Leary, Wall Street Journal

• Here’s How CNN Should Handle Trump at the Debate. But Won’t. -Jonathan V. Last, The Bulwark

• CNN has the spotlight for the presidential debate, but can it stand the heat? -Jeffrey M. McCall, The Hill