As we near the appointed time for the end of the republic—sorry, I mean the first of the 2016 presidential debates—here's a list of stories to bring you up to speed on what to expect tonight. Or what not to expect tonight. Or what to hide from in a fort made out of couch cushions.
• The big question: Whether this first job interview for America's highest office will be graded on a curve. It's a given that Donald Trump knows less about policy than does Hillary Clinton. It's a given that he's studied less, and that his policy ideas are far more vague, and that his resume contains nothing that would suggest him as presidential material, and that his entire campaign to date has been an extended insult-fest of whatever opponent he saw as his most challenging opposition. Are those things built into the post-debate "analysis" of how he did? If he is less incompetent than he has been in prior venues, does that count as a debate "win"?
• The big question #2: Will moderator Lester Holt point out overt lies spoken by the candidates? The Trump campaign has been working the refs for days with demands that the moderators do no such thing; Trump campaign manager told This Week that it was not "the job of the media to go and be these virtual fact-checkers."
• Another oddity of debate season: Refighting the Battle of Candy Crowley. In the 2012 presidential debate, Candy Crowley interjected when Mitt Romney falsely stated that President Obama had not called Benghazi an "act of terror." Yesterday, however, vice presidential appendage Mike Pence claimed "it turned out" Crowley "was wrong"; in fact, she was not. That multiple top Trump figures were dispatched to the Sunday shows to pooh-pooh notions that journalists should fact-check their candidate may hint at what they expect to see from their boss this evening.
• The Commission on Presidential Debates indeed seems skeptical of demands to "fact-check" the two potential presidents of the United States during the session. Executive Director Janet Brown: "If you are starting to get into the fact-check, I'm not sure what is the big fact and what is the little fact?"
• One lie every 3.25 minutes: That's what one investigation of Trump's public appearances this week tallied up. The Washington Post declared him "seemingly uniquely undeterred by facts," as multiple top national outlets dedicated stories to just how often and how broadly Trump has lied, in the course of this election.
• Republican National Committee head Reince Priebus declared Trump "very comfortable" in the lead-up to the big night—because Trump has "been through, what, 14 seasons, season finales" of his reality television show. Yes, that's an actual argument being made. Yes, he was apparently serious.
• Seven specific Donald Trump lies to watch for tonight. Collect them all?
• MSNBC makes its latest pitch for worst cable network coverage with graphics that portray Trump's debate "tasks" as "Stop lying", while Clinton's "tasks" include "Get those jokes off, adding levity." Because this is apparently how we grade our presidents now.
Viewers are advised not to take up any drinking games tonight, because just don’t, that’s why.