5 things to watch in tonight’s debate

Donald Trump has nothing to lose. But what does he have to gain? Never in the modern era has any candidate entered a consequential debate in such a degraded position: Trump isn’t merely facing an uphill climb (as John McCain did in 2008) or the widespread perception he’s not up to the job (Gerald Ford in 1976) or even that he was too unlikeable to get elected (Richard Nixon in 1960). No, he’s having to grapple with all of these problems at once while cloaked in disgrace and coping with an unprecedented defection of more than two dozen former Republican supporters who feel that endorsing him has become a moral transgression.