Tonight, President Trump will face his Democratic challenger, former vice president Joe Biden, in their second and final debate.

It is the president’s last opportunity, on the biggest stage, to hammer home a focused closing message and shift a race in which polls show him trailing nationwide and in key states.

But if the freewheeling and falsehood-laden tenor of his campaign over the last few weeks is any indication, his central challenge will be putting Biden on the defensive without getting in his own way.