I'm a little more with you on this. For over four years Trump's only MO has been to dominate attention and drown out. Every media outlet from right to left has been his tool. He did it in the debates with Hillary, and he did it again last night. I remember how post-debate people "scored" in Hillary's favor like she won, but she didn't. He was bigger, louder, lied constantly, and was the only thing anybody was thinking about afterwards. Trump is a known quantity and I also suspect he lost very little.

Biden on the other hand, is at his best when he can speak his vision directly to the people. Trump shut that down hard last night. Oh it was messy and chaotic? Who cares? How is that bad for Trump? Oh he refused to condemn at hate group? Exactly like he refused on camera to denounce the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan during last election?

Biden was getting beat up for most of that debate, in ways no different than we've seen before. He was much better in the second half when he had a few moments of direct contact with the camera, but IMO those were few and far between as he failed to deal with Trump's standard playbook. At least he was strongest towards the end. He needed to lose that ragdoll energy.

Few silver linings though: 1) Trump is a known quantity operating at the peak of the only gear he has. He can't actually get better or improve his debate performance. 2) Biden absolutely can, especially if it's more effectively moderated. 3) Biden is in the lead and Trump actually needed to win people over not stall Biden. Would have been great for Trump if he was the one in the lead going in, but he wasn't, and that hoses him.

Anyway, I fully expect Biden to be much better in the next debate no matter what Trump brings, and expect Trump to more or less remain in stasis. And even if it's a repeat, still good for Biden overall.

For kicks, go back and read the summary of a Clinton Trump debate from 2016.

He called Mrs Clinton a liar and a "nasty woman".

He said the women accusing him of sexual harassment bordering on assault were either attention-seekers or Clinton campaign stooges.

He said the media were "poisoning the minds" of the public. And, most notably, he refused to say whether he would accept the results of the election if he loses.

Sounds familiar. I actually though HRC did much better against Trump than Joe last night.