I don't know, he's spiraling hard. This might be them wanting to show America how he acts. He will no doubt say weird stuff and make a fool of himself. It also opens the door for Harris to interrupt him as well, which I don't see him handling well. I think this is a solid move honestly.
I'm honestly surprised by this. They want him to self destruct on live television. If they make fun of him like they've been doing in every press release it will probably work.
This will require Harris to still command the room and come across as professional and presidential though, which might be harder than it sounds when Trump can tell as many outrageous lies as he wants. I think she can do it, but it's a risk.
I think the play we are seeing is smart here. There is swelling momentum from center right Republicans urging their colleagues to distance themselves from trump and frankly an unprecedented amount of endorsements for Harris from the right side of the aisle.
This mentality of hot mics for the whole debate is trying to fan those flames within that movement.
This move in 2020 or 2016 would not be smart, but he's losing his chokehold as cult leader of the Republican party. It's still a risk in this race but I think much less so when they seem to be planning and preparing. This seems thought out to me.
Last show I watched with a crashing plane, there were a lot of unanswered questions, characters died, people came up with conspiracy theories, and it ended with the audience really upset. Sounds accurate.