(DEBATE PREP THREAD) What's about to happen in the United States—at 9PM ET tonight—will be as dangerous a public broadcast as America has ever experienced. This thread by a Trump biographer aims to prepare U.S. voters for what's about to happen. I hope you'll read on and RETWEET.

1/ The Trump we see tonight will be desperate, dangerous, and deceitful to a degree never before seen in a debate. I believe we'll get over 100 lies from Trump tonight—many hailing from a years-long Kremlin disinformation plot. Tonight is likely to be an embarrassment to America.

2/ But the issue isn't embarrassment—it's that it's profoundly irresponsible for Trump to be put on TV. He's a known criminal who has lied 25,000 times to voters, is planning a coup of our government, and spreads disinformation from our enemies that's intended to destroy America.

3/ It's nevertheless—apparently—inescapable that there must be a presidential debate between an actual political candidate and a criminal in the midst of an illegal coup. But no viewer should watch tonight hearing a *single word* from Trump as anything but a vile, bald-faced lie.

4/ Everyone who watches tonight's debate should consider themselves in danger. What do I mean by that? To be exposed to Trump is to be exposed to dangerous, unpatriotic foreign disinformation intended to destroy America. If you don't know that that's happening, you're in danger.

5/ Tonight isn't a normal event. There's nothing normal about it. It's a platform given to a career criminal plotting a *coup* of our government. Every network should've done everything imaginable to protect its viewers—including a 7-minute delay to permit onscreen fact-checking.

6/ Unfortunately, many of you will read what I've just said here and think it's hyperbole. Incredibly, some people still believe—despite all the evidence—that Trump is simply another political candidate, and my objections to him as a metajournalist are policy-based. They are not.

7/ It's not just 25,000 lies. It's not just that he's planning a coup of our government. It's not just that he's been impeached. It's not just that he's participating in bribery schemes in a dozen nations. It's not just that he's a threat to national security due to his debts.

8/ It's not just that his ongoing criminal, impeachable, and transnational bribery schemes have seen him accumulate dangerous foreign disinformation that he intends to *weaponize* tonight on national television against not just Joe Biden but—more importantly—the American people.

9/ It's not just that he faces indictment and possible incarceration if he loses this election. It's not just that he faces $400+ million in debts coming due if he loses this election. It's not just that he's a malignant narcissist and apparent sociopath who can't concede defeat.

10/ He is also the leader of a country *currently under attack* by foreign actors whose actions he's *knowingly aiding and abetting* because he believes they will aid him personally. Consider this Russian propaganda just released by his lackey at the ODNI: https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1311014685546819585?s=20

11/ You will hear things tonight that Trump was told by America's chief enemies: Putin and MBS and MBZ. You will hear things he received from international fugitives, Kremlin puppets, and convicted criminals. You will hear things his under-criminal-investigation lawyers compiled.

12/ A few weeks ago, I did the longest fact-checking thread ever done on a Trump interview. During a 30-minute interview with Axios, Trump lied *over 100 times*. It was a volume of deceit that makes fact-checking virtually *impossible*.

Tonight's debate is *three times as long*.

13/ Media has taken no precautions to protect viewers from the psy-ops scheme that we now know the Trump 2020 presidential campaign to be—and that we long ago learned the Trump 2016 presidential campaign was. Many viewers will believe they're just watching a debate.

They're not.

14/ The 2020 Trump campaign functions as the domestic arm of a foreign cyberattack on America. Trump is its chief—but not only—domestic weapon. Trump (and his collaborators in the Kremlin and elsewhere) understand that U.S. media isn't going to do anything to protect its viewers.

15/ I wrote 3 books on the bribery schemes Trump is participating in. They hold detailed deconstructions of the Kremlin disinformation you'll hear tonight. You should watch tonight's debate as though you're watching a crime unfold in real time. It's the only way to understand it.

CONCLUSION/ I recorded a podcast series—the complete audio of which is in the link below—to warn people about what's coming tonight. It doesn't matter anymore what people believe is so; the *proof* of what Trump is doing is mountain-high, and unassailable. https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1310966665111314433

PS/ The amount of danger now is incalculable. A foreign disinformation agent/Trump co-conspirator featured in Mueller's report is now broadcasting false claims about Biden having debate questions in advance. Corsi is a criminal who—in a nation with rule of law—would be in prison.

PS2/ America didn't indict, arrest or imprison even a fourth of the Trump co-conspirators a nation with rule of law would've indicted, arrested and imprisoned. For God's sake—Erik Prince is still loose. And it is these unindicted criminals, working together, who threaten America.

PS3/ Now the Trump team—floundering—is saying that Biden uses drugs and earpieces during debates. Do people understand that not only are these lies insane, but they're *exactly* what America's enemies want Trump and his team and the RNC and FNC to be doing to destabilize America?