There has been a major change in the rules for the second presidential debate. The Commission on Presidential Debates, which handles and manages the debates, has announced that the second edition of the debate will be a virtual one. The announcement was made on Thursday morning. This comes after the President tested positive for COVID-19 and his confinement at the Walter Reed Military Hospital. That diagnosis was the main reason that has been cited for the change in format.

The debate participants will be in separate remote locations while the moderator and an audience will be in Miami. Observers have noted that Biden will use the President’s testing positive for the disease as an excuse not to face a second time on the debate stage. Biden performed very poorly during the first debate, where he just resorted to telling outright lies. If the moderator did not aid him, then he would not have survived it. There has been speculation that the Democrats will push for the moderators to control the mic so they can cut off the President whenever he is making a point against Biden.

Now that the debate will be online, Biden will be given more advantages. On top of having the moderators on his side so they would not ask him any tough questions as follow-ups, and now they can control the President’s speech.

Biden has said before that he was “looking forward to being able to debate him,” but he added that “we’re going to have to follow very strict guidelines.” Now, they’re changing the rules so they can support the former vice president and prop him up. He will now be free to use teleprompters and earpieces. He is given all the advantages that he can get for the debate, yet he’s winning is still not guaranteed. That’s just how bad Biden is on the debate stage.

After Kamala Harris’s poor performance during her own debate with Vice President Pence, it will really be up to Biden to make their ticket look good.