NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Pressed for time and short of cash, President Donald Trump will confront former Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday night in their second and final debate as the incumbent's faltering campaign seeks a last-minute comeback before Election Day.
Organizers of the debate — which starts at 9 p.m. Eastern — are determined not to allow a repeat of the unruly last face-off between Trump and Biden, which devolved into an incoherent shouting match by Trump's repeated interruptions.
The meltdown of decorum moved the independent Commission on Presidential Debates to add a new precaution to its format: a mute button.
The microphone will be shut off if a candidate tries to talk when it is not his turn. Moderator Kristen Welker of NBC News will focus her questions on the fight against COVID-19, American families, race in America, climate change, national security and leadership.
Other Republicans urged Trump to strike a calmer, more serious tone this time in an effort to reassure wavering voters, but the president has given no indication he will do so.
Trump campaign officials signaled that Trump's guest at the debate will be a former business partner of Biden's son, Hunter, who is accusing the Biden family of corruption.
Biden denies any impropriety, and has accused the Trump campaign of seeking to divert voters' attention from the president's mishandling of the COVID-19 crisis, which has killed nearly 223,000 Americans this year — more than any other country.
Trump branded the mic shut-off switch part of a conspiracy against him, telling Fox News "the whole thing is crazy." He condemned Welker and stepped up his broader crusade against the mainstream media in the run-up to the event on Thursday.
"Look at the bias, hatred and rudeness on behalf of 60 Minutes and CBS," Trump wrote on Facebook, as he tried to preempt the popular CBS newsmagazine broadcast of his interview, planned for Sunday, by posting his own clips from it. "Tonight's anchor, Kristen Welker, is far worse! #MAGA."
In their "60 Minutes" exchange, reporter Leslie Stahl challenged Trump on multiple fronts, including his numerous false statements, his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, his failure to release a long-promised health care plan and the lack of social distancing and mask-wearing at his rallies.
Trump appeared agitated throughout, especially when Stahl pointed out that attendance at his rallies appears much lower than in 2016.
"These are the biggest rallies we've ever had," Trump responded, falsely. "You just come in here with that negative attitude."
While the president's die-hard supporters cheer his attacks, little evidence indicates they are impressing the moderate voters, especially suburban women, that he needs to lure back into his coalition.
The president heads into the debate roughly 10 points behind Biden nationwide, according to polling averages, and he is trailing in almost every battleground state.
Even so, Democrats will be on edge as they watch.
Despite his lead, Biden is far from locking up the race and Democrats have not forgotten that at this point in the 2016 campaign, Trump appeared finished.
His surprise victory has haunted Democrats ever since. With the pandemic upending voting patterns and potentially undermining the reliability of pre-election polls, the party's operatives are anxious.
The Biden campaign said Thursday that the former vice president will focus on White House management of the pandemic and steer conversation back to the issues when Trump unleashes personal attacks.
The campaign is bracing for the president to insist on talking about unsubstantiated claims about Biden family business relationships overseas.
"We have certainly every expectation that Donald Trump is going to behave the way he did in the first debate," said Kate Beddingfield, Biden's deputy campaign manager. "If he chooses to do that, he will lose this debate, just he lost the first debate."
She predicted "overtalking, interruptions, antics." Beddingfield stressed that Trump's claims about the Biden family are rooted in information supplied to Trump associates by foreign operatives, and are refuted by records.
In a conference call with reporters that the Trump campaign billed as a debate preview, Trump advisers said they would only answer questions related to Biden family business dealings.
When journalists asked about other topics, former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell scolded: "This is a call to talk about the Biden emails."
The strategy appears to be an effort to reprise Trump's come-from-behind victory in 2016, when he hammered relentlessly at Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, and when he brought women to a debate who had accused former President Bill Clinton of misbehavior.
Both the Trump and Biden campaigns said the candidates tested negative for coronavirus before the debate, a point of concern after Trump may have been infected and contagious at the Sept. 29 debate.
The Trump campaign has been unable to provide evidence that the president was tested before entering the debate hall that night, as the rules required. He was diagnosed one day later, and rushed to the hospital on Oct. 1 with COVID-19.
"Hopefully he'll play by the rules," Biden said before boarding his plane to Nashville on Thursday. "Hopefully everyone's been tested."
Thursday night's debate at Nashville's Belmont University will stretch for 90 minutes, uninterrupted by commercials.
It follows the cancellation of the second presidential debate, which was scheduled for last week, after Trump refused to participate when the event was moved online because he was still under care for COVID-19.
