The final presidential debate concluded on Oct. 22. This was a stark contrast to the first presidential debate, as it sounded like an actual civil exchange between two politicians and not a shouting match between two senior citizens. President Donald Trump was forced to radically change his previous strategy due to the new debate rules, and former Vice President Joe Biden displayed some of the same tactics from the first debate.

Trump’s keys to success were defined by his more disciplined and tactical approach to his responses. Trump started off the debate by listing statistics, which is something he doesn’t do often.

On the issue of Covid-19, there could not be a bigger difference between the two candidates. To put it simply, Trump gave a message of optimism while Biden gave a message of pessimism. Biden preached an apocalyptic narrative of a “dark winter” and “learning to die with [Covid-19],” which is honestly not the narrative that the American people need to hear. This constant virus and lockdown fear mongering is what will make people shut themselves down and become violent. 

So in contrast, there’s Trump’s narrative. Trump’s message of a vaccine becoming available soon and learning to live with it is the message that Americans need to hear in order to get through this crisis without mass hysteria forming. Trump perfectly pointed out the negative side effects of long shutdowns, which include higher suicide rates, domestic abuse, depression, loss of jobs, drug abuse and even death. He provided the example of states like New York, which have the highest amounts of deaths with the strictest Covid restrictions in place.

Trump made a great distinction when he compared his tactic of actually leaving the White House and living through the pandemic in contrast to Biden’s approach of staying in his basement.                          

Instead of just steamrolling Biden and cutting him off every time he attempted to speak, Trump executed coordinated attacks on Biden’s “honest politician” image. Trump slammed Biden on his son’s foreign business deals, and he also highlighted the fact that his relatives used Biden’s name and the title of the vice presidency in order to cash out. In return, Biden got extremely agitated and responded in an angry tone. Not a good look, especially when he’s supposed to be the candidate of “normalcy.”

Then, Trump perfectly blasted Biden for trying to redirect from the scrutiny on his family. In a move that was similar to Chris Christie’s famous takedown of Marco Rubio during the first 2016 GOP debate, Trump called Biden out for his pre-packaged remarks. Biden tried to move away from talking about his family’s sketchy business deals, and he began churning out a generic cookie cutter politician statement about middle class families in an attempt to recover his “honest but concerned old guy” image. It’s such a clear sign of corruption when a serious issue about a candidate’s integrity is discussed, and then the candidate turns to the camera and starts spewing some memorized line about “American families.” Come on, man.

I think that this was possibly Trump’s best attack on Biden, aside from the “47 years” attack. Even though some of the claims may not have been entirely true, Trump’s attacks on the foreign business deals and the big money made by Hunter Biden will surely make some voters question Biden’s integrity.

Trump hit Biden hard on his extensive record, and he especially pointed out that Biden didn’t really accomplish much in 47 years in office, and his signature accomplishment wasn’t even something to be proud of. When pressed on this, Biden tried to run away from this accomplishment, stating that it was passed unanimously by the Senate and that he couldn’t reverse it when he was vice president, due to there being a Republican Congress. This is false, as Congress had a Democratic majority in the first two years of Obama’s presidency.

Trump really took advantage of this attack, and he used it to damage Biden’s ability to make policies, calling Biden “all talk no action.” Trump capitalized on the fact that Biden had many chances to fix the things he wants to fix now, and I think it worked out perfectly.

The undisputed winners of this debate were the viewers. They were able to enjoy a more respectable debate that didn’t involve the candidates talking over each other or calling each other stupid or clowns.

Trump turned things around when he needed to the most, and it’s being reflected in the polls. NBC’s national average has Trump up almost four points in the days after the debate, while Biden’s lead has only increased by 0.1 points.

A new poll by SurveyMonkey/Axios is showing Trump with a 1% lead in Florida, something that hasn’t been seen since the beginning of the campaign. Morning Consult’s new poll shows Trump also with a 1% lead in Arizona, which has recently been touted as a “lean blue” state. A new poll by Monmouth University also has Trump with a 1% lead in Iowa, which is a somewhat shaky state for the GOP.

In the end, the ultimate judge is the American people, and come November 3, they will make their choice.