Donald Trump says the debate is rigged against him and the facts support his claims.

The liberal New York Times has 60 reporters covering the presidential showdown Thursday night, including 20 just to fact check to make sure Trump doesn’t get away with anything.

Any Trump misstep or mistake will be quickly seized on by the media live during the debate. Trump is walking into a lion’s den.

CNN debate moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper are on the record repeatedly slamming the former Republican president. They are essentially biased Democratic operatives pretending to be journalists. Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt was abruptly kicked off CNN recently for starting to criticize the moderators.

The debate rules – like no live audience and muted mics – are all meant to protect dottering President Biden but that strategy won’t work. The American voters know the deck is stacked against Trump.

One advantage Trump has is that Americans love an underdog, and that’s what the former president will be for much of the debate.

CNN has designed every rule to prevent real back and forth between the candidates, which is what a debate is supposed to be.

The mainstream media will declare the Democratic president the victor unless he falls flat on his face, but the victory will be hollow and probably not change the trajectory of the race.

Trump will win the debate if he just stays on two subjects – inflation and immigration. The question is, is he disciplined enough to do that? Probably not.

Voters are overwhelmingly with Trump on those two issues, but it remains to be seen whether the former president can aggressively and effectively challenge his opponent without seeming unhinged.

The American public will be looking to see if Biden can stay on message and not look too old to handle the job, but even if he just meets that minimum standard, he won’t change voters’ minds enough to reshape the race.

Only a major mistake by either candidate will have a dramatic impact on the November election. Voters will have forgotten about most of the debate before Election Day.

Biden’s strategy is to repeatedly remind viewers that Trump is a convicted felon, but people know that already and it hasn’t had the dramatic impact Democrats were hoping for. Most voters view Trump’s conviction as rigged anyway.

Trump will do best if he ignores the jabs from Biden and hones in on the president’s dismal record.

One wildcard right now is the Supreme Court, and whether they will drop a bomb on Thursday by ruling on Trump’s attempted immunity from prosecution. That ruling coming just hours before the debate could dramatically impact the Biden-Trump show.