#US ELECTION 2020: In final debate, Trump seeks a drastic comeback

In the three weeks since Donald Trump last met Joe Biden on the debate stage, another kind of debate has been swirling on the campaign trail: one over the conditions under which the two presidential candidates would convene for a rematch. Virtual format, or an old-fashioned in-person face to face? Open microphones for both debaters, or only for the one who is speaking? A moderator who tightly enforces the rules, or one who allows the candidates – one candidate in particular – to run wild?
It is something of a miracle that Thursday’s debate in Nashville, Tennessee, is happening at all – and Trump being Trump, there is always the chance of a last-minute cancellation at any point before the camera’s light blinks red. After his disastrous opener against Biden, followed days later by a hospital stay for COVID-19, Trump dropped out of the second scheduled debate, a town hall that was to have taken place in Miami. Trump’s reason: he did not approve of the remote format that was being proposed as a precautionary measure against his illness.