President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden enter the second and final debate Thursday with two very different objectives. Biden seeks to continue to do just enough to do no harm.

Trump’s objective is more complicated for a variety of reasons. He is the incumbent. The tech giants that will livestream the debate, such as Twitter and Facebook, are on a censor-and-purge binge that is openly hostile toward him and conservatives. Much of the national press has forsaken its objective role, miserably failing to scrutinize Biden with the same vigor with which they scrutinize Trump. Finally, Trump is struggling in polls with the people he needs to vote for him — soft Trump voters who believe he has done badly on COVID.