President Joe Biden‘s shaky debate performance Thursday has caused fear in many Democratic circles, but the problems for the president may have begun before the debate even started.

Unlike in previous years, the debate was hosted by one network rather than the Commission on Presidential Debates, and the rules for this debate were the product of demands from both campaigns. Biden’s campaign lined up a list of stipulations it had to agree to, but some of those rules may have backfired when the big night came for the president.