Winning, winning, winning. From nbc news, decision 2020 president ial debate. Lester holt and savannah guthrie. Good evening and welcome to our coverage of the second and final 2020 president ial debate, republican incumbent President Donald Trump and his democratic challenger, former Vice President joe biden, are about to face off for the last time with the election now just 12 days away. The stakes are higher than ever, and tonight is the best last chance for the candidates to make their case to a National Audience before election day on november 3rd. So the candidates are going to take the stage in just over an hour, Belmont University in tennessee. The first debate was chaotic, lots of interruptions. The commission on president ial debates has changed the rules a bit. It decided to mute the microphone of the candidate not speaking for the first two minutes of each separate debate topic. And, of course, the coronavirus pandemic is sure to be front and center. Last weeks scheduled debate canceled after President Trump contracted the virus and refused to debate virtually. Kristen welker is moderating tonights debate. The Debate Commission says she will not be responsible for Fact Checking the candidates in real time. Our team of correspondents and analysts are standing by to do just that. If you want Fact Checking as we go you can go to nbcnews. Com. Why dont we start with nbcs chief White House CorrespondentHallie Jackson inside the event center on the campus of Belmont University in nashville. Hallie . Reporter lester, lets talk strategy for these two candidates heading into what is the final faceoff and perhaps the final best chance to move voters their direction for each of these candidates. Thats particularly important for President Trump because he is trailing in many polls, so tonights an opportunity to get in front of potentially tens of millions of voters. The strategy there our reporting indicates aides and allies have been counseling the president to interrupt less this time than he did previously. You and savannah referenced the chaotic debate the first goaround. There is a sense among those close to the president that by letting joe biden speak uninterrupted he may potentially stumble or create a gaffe that President Trump could capitalize on. You have the president focusing, it soemeems, on hunter biden an his dealings overseas, these unverified emails. Many Intelligence Experts have said the emails carry all the hallmarks of a disinformation, foreign Disinformation Campaign essentially. The president s guest list indicates that is the direction he is probably going to head tonight to try to attack biden. One guest a former Business Partner of joe bidens son. He appears ready for those attac attacks. He wants to flip the script, if you will, and make the case that President Trump is focused more on bidens family than american families. Biden will likely, joe biden of course the former Vice President , focus intently on the coronavirus pandemic, continuing to litigate the case that the president and his administrations response has not been sufficient. On the covid situation, i should tell you, both candidates, according to their aides, have tested negative for coronavirus today. And let me point out something that were seeing in the debate hall. Earlier today there was plexiglas between the podiums as a precaution. The commission on president ial debates says the plexiglas has now been removed because of both candidates negative tests. So that is something new that has developed in the last little bit here. As we talk about the way that the debate will go tonight, there will be, of course, six segments, six different topics 15 minutes each. At the beginning of each of those segments each candidate will get two minutes of uninruptuninrupt ed talk time. There will be open debate. Its not the moderator who is controlling the microphones. That is up to the commission on president ial debates. Six topics will be discussed tonight starting with coronavirus and the response to that, american families, race in america, climate change, national security, and leadership. Its going to be a very busy 90 minutes all set to kick off here in nashville in just a bit. Hallie, you have good seats, too. Thank you. Lets get to moderator of meet the press, chuck todd. To put it mildly, a lot has happened since the first debate. The president got covid and recovered from covid. There are few moments in a campaign, big, big moments. A debate is one of them. This is the final debate. We have 12 days to go. What are the stakes . Well, the stakes, we can use every metaphor, couldnt be higher because of the precarious position the incumbent president is sitting in. He is trailing, he is behind. He needs to change the trajectory of the race. It does explain the president s behavior of the last 48 hours. But, by the way, in case youre wondering how nasty this debate could get back and forth tonight, hallie referred to the president s obsession on hunter biden. The Biden Campaign responded tonight, and i just want to read you that last line because i think it sets the tone of what we could be hearing tonight. On the hunter biden attack this is what the Biden Campaign stays, this is a pathetic farce by a flailing campaign with no rationale for putting our country through another four years of hell. I am quoting them. The hedouble hockey sticks. Thats what we call it in my house. Thats an easy unknown, the wild card factor tonight. I dont think people watching want to see a back and forth about hunter biden. That may end up being what we see tonight and that, to me, is an extraordinarily risky strategy by the president. I do think the president needs to remember hes the incumbent and a lot of people want to know what are you going to do for the next four years and, by the way, what are you going to do now about covid . What are you going to do now about health care . I do think this is a risky strategy by the president to basically ignore the issue and try to go at hunter biden. Chuck, thank you. We also have senior washington correspondent Andrea Mitchell with us tonight. Andrea, what are you going to be watching for this evening . Reporter im going to be watching whether the president has come prepared to discuss policy, whether hes going to try to blow this debate up as he did the first debate or whether hes going to actually talk about the substantive issues chuck just referred to, important issues. Covid obviously the most important. You see the American Family, which includes the national, national security, the environment, race relations. Is he going to have a different answer on white supremacy. And is bringing Tony Bobulinski, the former partner, supposedly, with hunter biden to the debate who had a News Conference with the traveling White House Press corps right beforehand. By bringing him right there as a special guest it reminds you of what he did during the last debate against Hillary Clinton, bringing the women who had accused bill clinton of past affairs and wanting them to be seated in the front row right there in las vegas when we were right there. This is a stunt and its obviously set off that angry reaction from the biden camp that chuck just read. Thats setting off a bad tone coming in. If he comes ready to discuss policy and how will joe biden respond when the personal issue comes up . Will he keep his cool . Is he prepared to get past it and talk about the substance that he is bringing to this . And just watching the last couple days, though, it does not bode well because the president spent the last couple of days on the attack against everyone, against tony fauci, against cbs and lesley stahl and 60 minutes, against all sorts of enemies, perceived or real and adversaries, accusing biden of criminality and saying that the attorney general perhaps shouldnt keep his job because hes refusing to indict joe biden for some sort of totally false allegation. So thats the problem going into this. Hes set a bad stage. People want to mahear what he would do in a second term. A very effective surrogate, barack obama, yesterday with his strongest to date. Weve seen them both very angry but preparing for this debate in a very different way. Now lets see whether its going to be a real debate. All right, Andrea Mitchell, thank you. And now perspective from hugh hewitt, president of the Richard Nixon foundation, also a trump supporter. Hugh, this is your big chance just in case the president is watching, if you were advising him tonight, what would your message be . What should he focus on . Hunter biden . The issues . Joe biden . What would you say . I would talk about pennsylvania and wisconsin. I believe the president is doing well in other swing states, North Carolina maybe, but talk to the keystone state and wisconsin about the upcoming gdp report, about the job in jobless claims this week and focus on the economy, the economy, the economy and how its back. Were not going to get out of it without Tony Bobulinski talk. Im running a radio show at the same time im talking to you and hatch the country is talking about tony and hatch tlf the co is talking other than tony even as they lean in to figure what it is about. The president would be best served if he stayed focused on western pennsylvania and southern wisconsin and talked about those two key states to his reelection bid. Hugh, let me talk about style. The president lost some style points last time by interrupting. At the same time thats part of really who he is, the disrupter, a brawler sometimes. So if he is constrained and not able to do that, will he be out of his game to some extent . You know, i dont think so. I think the twominute warning thing theyre giving them, two minutes to talk, is going to force him actually to make sure he has his message points lined up for those two minutes. Clearly in the first debate he intended to throw Vice President biden off his game by disrupting whatever plan the former Vice President had. I think he will look more directly in the camera. I was talking to mark meadows on my radio show and defending our colleague Kristen Welker about her being very, very fair and the chief of staff said he would take that back to the president. The one thing he could do that would be terrible is attack kristen. That would be a huge mistake for the American People to see. I hope he talks in the camera. I dont think hes as far behind as people believe, by the Mainstream Media doing the polling. I think he has a very good shot of winning this, but he does have to focus and deliver on the key bread and butter issues that got him elected the first time while showing some of the stuff that brings out the massive crowds we see in erie and nevada, in fact. Those crowds are energy. Hes not going to get the energy tonight because its so small. He has to channel it from himself. Barack obamas Campaign Manager in 2008 and served as a Senior Adviser to the president , a biden supporter and an nbc news analyst, david, if you were advising joe biden, what would you tell him he needs to do tonight . Well, theyll play it safe. He has the lead and its a meaningful lead. Like in sports you dont want to be overly cautious. Two issues in particular, one, we have covid cases on the rise, hospitalizations on the rise. The president seems completely uninterr uninterested and wants it to go aw away. The president in the 60 minutes interview, a disaster, rooting to get rid of the Affordable Care act, to kick tens of millions of people off health care in a pandemic. Those are home bases for biden. I would stay there and fill in the blanks on what youre going to do as president , taxes and jobs and health care. Theres still some work to be done there. Let me pick up, david, on something hugh hewitt said, suggested, i think, perhaps the commission on president ial debates had essentially done a favor to President Trump having the microphones muted while the other candidate speaks giving trump an opportunity to speak unfettered but also giving biden the chance to speak unfettered. As a democrat, be honest, does that give you any nerves . It doesnt give me nerves but i guess there will be 12 minutes of a debate where trump cant interrupt. The last debate was a disaster for him because he did interrupt. I wouldnt mind having the mics be like last time because that didnt serve himself. On the hunter biden thing, listen, that is not what the American People care about. They care about their family, the American Family is hurting. And itll be interesting because i dont think the trump brain trust will be in the political hall of fame. But theyre telling him not to spend the whole debate on hunter biden, dont attack Kristen Welker. Make your case, which hes yet to do, why people should rehire him. The question is hes running the campaign. And will he listen or not . Thats the most important thing to me is do we get a slightly more muted version of donald trump from the first debate, or is he really going to try and make a case . I dont think he can do it successfully to the American People. If you dont wake up tomorrow if he doesnt wake up tomorrow and cant say definitively the race has not changed for the better, this is not his best, this is his only hope to change the direction of the race because this is the last time he will have this kind of audience. David plouffe, thank you. Well take a quick break. Back with a look at the mood inside the trump and Biden Campaigns toght. Ni the ups and downs of frequent mood swings can take you to deep, depressive lows. Or, give you unusually high energy, even when depressed. Overwhelmed by bipolar i . Ask about vraylar. Elderly patients with dementiarelated psychosis have an increased risk of death or stroke. Call your doctor about unusual changes in behavior or suicidal thoughts. Antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. Report fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, which may mean a lifethreatening reaction, or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be permanent. Side effects may not appear for several weeks. High cholesterol and weight gain, high blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death, may occur. Movement dysfunction, sleepiness, and stomach issues are common side effects. When bipolar i overwhelms, vraylar helps smooth the ups and downs. Our special coverage of the final president ial debate is now less than an hour away. Jeff, we know the president has an uphill battle. If the polls are to be believed, what is the campaign saying about that right now . Reporter well, privately, savannah, Campaign Aides are projecting confidence, as you might expect. There does have this disconnect between what Campaign Aides would have their candidate do and what the candidate himself, President Trump, is inclined to do. So even as Campaign Advisers suggest that it would be beneficial for President Trump to be more affirmative tonight, to offer some policy prescriptions, less combative, to be calmer, to interrupt less, its not clear that President Trump is inclined to follow that advice. As we know by now, he views himself as his best campaign adviser, and he has not appeared to be constrained by any outside advice or guidance. Judging by his public statements and tweets he is fueling his campaign so far, to the most part, based on grievance. We should also note the president , were told, has done less traditional debate prep for this debate tonight than he did for that first one. In part because those aides who helped him, namely Kellyanne Conway and Chris Christie have been recovering from covid. The president on the tarmac a couple days ago was asked by reporters how he is preparing, and he said by doing this. And what he meant was by taking questions from reporters and by sparring with them. I have to tell you, a person close to the president told me that the bar has been set so low for him based on his own performance in the first debate that even if he shows a modicum of restraint it should reflect well on him. Savannah, lesser . Geoff, thank you. Peter alexander is outside the debate hall in nashville. Peter, lets talk about the Biden Campaign. The Vice President has been off the stump for many days now, ostensibly preparing for this night. That certainly raised some conversation. How are they feeling tonight . Reporter lester, i think the Biden Campaign is feeling confidence. They know the challenges for the president to try to change the trajectory of this race. They want biden to present himself as stable, steady and competent tonight. One biden adviser this evening circled a key figure for me, the number 12. That is the number of uninterrupted minutes joe biden, and donald trump, will get to use to speak toni