I think y'all are underestimating just how prepared Joe has time to get and how little time Trump has, especially since he rarely ever keeps it in the box. The debate will already favor the Democratic candidate because Biden's record is 47 years of forgetful stuff and Trump's is 47 months of "in your face". It doesn't matter at all that Biden did this that or the other during that period of time or during Obama's presidency, it only matters what Trump did. Except, of course, where Biden can slime his way into saying that some accomplishment that occured during the Trump administration is actually thanks to Obama. Biden is going to go full force on the emotional politics, especially race. Trump will be painted as an evil fascist. Biden probably will only consider questions "topics" and recite lines and he probably is being told to, if Trump attacks him, simply grin and point as if to say "See, folks... is that who you want as president?"
Unless Trump cleans it up, develops an ability to himself formulate intelligible, crisp, non-braggadocios sentences, he will be steamrolled by even a stumbling Joe Biden. What Biden will likely do - if he is stumbling or to preempt that entirely, is state that he has a stutter or similar and he shouldn't be discriminated against for having a disability. It doesn't matter if that "disability" is his old age. If he does something like that, Trump looks instantly evil if he picks on him. On top of this, if Trump is gaining some ground on the "law and order" point, Biden can simply state... law and order broke down under Trump's watch.
If Trump, the day he took office, acted 80% presidential instead of 10% like he has (and that image matters a lot) he'd be unbeatable. Then I'd have confidence. Publicly, few world leaders will say they respect him. Publicly, few politicians - even Republicans - will overtly praise him (only a policy or doing of his). Publicly, nobody of any race can safely state they are Republican / support Trump without being at the very least thought of negatively and, in cities and other liberal areas, potentially attacked, stolen from (signs), be subjected to vandalism, and so on, so forth.
Honestly, the only thing I care about is the 2nd Amendment. And many other independents like me agree. The debates will make guns evil and Trump will absolutely fail at defending gun rights. Why? Because it's so much easier to paint people like Kyle Rittenhouse as vigilantes, as examples of why evil ARs and semi-automatics aren't something people should have access to, especially with 10+ round magazines. You don't need that for hunting, Biden will say. You don't need that for defending your home, Biden will say. You don't need that for anything except "WAR" and killing lots of people. Trump, who has never spent a day among real gun owners, will not know how to fight back on that. He won't have the facts. He won't paint the picture of overreach.
The sad thing is, we have elderly men trying to run this country. Young conservatives fear running for any election because being labeled a Republican might cause them to lose their job. The old guard in the Republican party keeps hanging on to things that don't matter. If it's in the Constitution, it must be defended. If it's not, compromise.
