Trump and Biden show they can disagree without being quite so disagreeable

After the debacle three weeks ago, I wasn’t sure I’d even watch the last presidential debate of 2020, let alone write about it.

Not only has my mind been made up for four years, I’ve already voted. Why put myself through the torture?

Then the boss called.

To my surprise, it wasn’t nearly as painful as I’d expected.

Whether it was the threat of the mute button or the possibility of frittering away the election, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden managed to conduct a much more conventional political debate than their first confrontation.

Without all the interruptions, there was even a little substance between all the insults, although it will be the insults that will be best remembered.

I had a sense of déjà vu, remembering Trump’s final debate with Hillary Clinton four years ago, when he decided to be on his best behavior.

Then again, it might have been caused by hearing him promise to release his tax returns again — as soon as that audit is complete.

The president was practically polite, if you don’t count all the times that he accused Biden of being a crook, and I don’t, because that’s just politics.

Trump even complimented the moderator, NBC White House correspondent Kristen Welker for her fairness.

“So far, I respect very much the way you’re handling this,” said Trump at the halfway mark, even though I thought she was interrupting him slightly more than Biden.

That was high praise from the president, who was expected to pick a fight with Welker.

But I agree. Welker was like a good fight referee. She asked her questions, got out of the way and broke them up in the clinches.

Jim Bourg/Pool via AP

I’m not sure what the American public will make of all of Trump’s accusations about Biden — or his family, he kept alternating between them — taking money from foreign governments.

I don’t put much stock in anything new coming out so close to an election. It sounded desperate. I think that’s how most people treat this stuff.

But I also find it hard to believe there are actually voters out there who haven’t already made up their minds.

Biden had a rehearsed response at the ready to combat Trump’s expected attacks on his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings.

“It’s not about his family and my family. It’s about your family, and your family is hurting badly right now,” Biden said.

Trump responded by accusing him of deflecting like a “typical politician.”

A question about fighting the coronavirus pandemic set the tone early.

“It will go away. We’re rounding the turn and rounding the corner. It’s going away,” Trump said.

Biden, sounding a little like Trump from four years ago, said: “I will take care of this. I will end this. I will make sure we have a plan.”

Trump said he expects a vaccine to be ready by the end of the year, and Biden said we can’t trust his promises.

I don’t pretend to know when the coronavirus will go away, but happily the election will soon, followed shortly with any luck by this president.