Former Vice President Joe Biden had one job in tonight’s final presidential debate: tread water. Don’t get rattled. If President Trump talks about your son, Hunter, as if he were an influence peddler or a Chinese Communist Party crony, take a breath and don’t take the bait. And definitely don’t get so angry that you provide Trump an opening to expand upon the attacks. For the most part, the long-time politician got the job done.
Of course, just because Biden saved himself from getting goaded into a long discussion about his son’s alleged business dealings doesn’t mean Trump wouldn’t return to the subject on a few occasions during the 90-minute debate. Trump continues to hope that Hunter Biden’s supposed business dealings will do what Hilary Clinton’s email problem did in 2016: tarnish the opponent’s credibility and reputation. Trump will spend the next week and a half painting Joe Biden as a corrupt politician who used his public office to enrich his own family.

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