Initially, the second debate was to be a town hall, which format gave Biden a considerable advantage. When Trump backed out of that, Biden's camp insisted that the final debate have the town-hall format. Now, thanks to NBC, the reasoning will be that "the candidates have already had their town halls" (even though it wasn't the same thing for several reasons) "so now we can have another podium debate for the final one, as planned."
So, you might say, why should we worry about this, since the first debate was such a debacle for Trump? Because Trump's whole approach was to be disruptive and bait Biden into either a gaffe or a bout of stuttering, which would then be the video "highlight" played everywhere, and reinforce the narrative that "Sleepy Joe" had cognitive problems. Trump's error was that he overplayed his hand, and was so disruptive that he got a negative reaction himself. Trump's trick for the final debate will be to figure out how to dial down the aggression just enough to make himself seem "more mature than at the first debate" while still trying to goad Biden. At that point, the question becomes: "Can Joe keep enough self-control to prevent himself from making an error that turns the election on his head?" He did a great job last time, but it clearly took him a lot of effort. We can only hope he can turn in such a controlled effort once again, because any misstep he might make will become the "highlight reel" for the last two weeks of this campaign. And, even if he can, it means that debate-watchers will have been prevented from seeing him and Trump side-by-side, live, responding to the concerns of ordinary people -- a comparison which could well have ended the race right there.
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