The debate . . . what to say about the debate.
I think Thomas Friedman, writing in the New York Times, got it right: we can’t let the fact that Trump sent the debate so completely off the rails distract us from the real story, which is that Trump again made it clear that he will not accept the results of the election if he loses. His position is that a victory for Biden can only mean that the election was fraudulent, and he will do whatever he can to stop the vote or overturn the results. This is not an idle threat. As with almost nothing else he says, about this we must take him at his word.
Whether he succeeds in sabotaging the election will depend on whether Republicans in Congress, state elected officials, judges in state and federal courts, leaders in the military, and members of his own administration choose to enable his subversion of the Constitution or defy him. It will be a defining moment for our republic. Indeed, it will determine whether our nation deserves to endure.