Ross: What to understand about tonight’s presidential debate

Tonight’s debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is supposed to attract a record audience, which means some of you might be new to this, and may be wondering what you should look for in a high-stakes Trump-Clinton debate.

First of all — I know this initial debate has been compared to the Super Bowl. But if you see Trump and Clinton wearing helmets, that’s actually Monday Night Football; you’ll need to change the channel.

Michael Medved: The questions that will make or break the Trump – Clinton debate

Next thing — do not go into this with some expectation that Trump will get some fact wrong, and the referee will throw a flag, and that’ll be the game. This election doesn’t appear to be about who can quote facts.

It’s about an approach to governing. Trump’s approach seems irresponsible to a lot of people, but it’s also new. It may be a gamble, but Americans love to gamble.

So given that the old rules don’t apply for a Trump and Clinton debate, and fact-checking is useless, what do you watch for?

You want to watch for any signs that you might end up having to apologize to your friends for your vote.

Because every president fails at something sooner or later. It may happen two years in, it may happen seven years in, but sooner or later somebody you invited over for dinner will say, “How’s that ‘Make America Great Again’ stuff workin’ for you now?”  Or “Whatever happened to ‘Stronger Together?'”

And you’ll have to be ready. So you want to watch tonight for any sign that the person you plan to vote for could embarrass you. Either by breaking a promise — or by keeping one.

If you’re still looking for a sports metaphor for the Trump vs. Clinton debate — think soccer.  There’s 90 minutes of kicking, both sides pretend to be injured, and it takes three games to figure out who wins.

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