The debate commission makes last-minute changes ahead of Thursday night's Trump-Biden event. President Trump doesn't hold back in his response.

"'President Trump is committed to debating Joe Biden regardless of last minute rule changes from the biased commission in their latest attempt to provide advantage to their favored candidate,' Bill Stepien, Trump’s campaign manager, said in a statement." (Daily Caller)

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• What's happening: The presidential debate commission announced significant last-minute changes to the rules for this week's event:

(1) candidates' mics will be muted for the first two minutes of the other's answer

(2) the topics will not focus on foreign policy, as was originally scheduled

• What's at stake: First, this is yet another last-minute, unpopular decision from the presidential debate commission, which has largely escaped headlines (or much notice!) in previous election years.

President Trump and his campaign haven't hesitated to describe this as unfair.

The Trump campaign's response to the debate commission was sharp, with the bolding and emphasis our own: "Sadly, this is not the first time the Commission has ceded to the wishes of the Biden campaign. Despite the obvious fact that millions of Americans began casting votes early this year, the Commission steadfastly refused to move the debate schedule earlier or add another event, simply because the Biden campaign objected. In this example, the Commission hid behind Biden’s unwillingness to be flexible with the schedule but has not hesitated to act unilaterally in other cases."

And President Trump described the debate moderator for Thursday night as "terrible" and "totally partisan."

Of course, the commission's unpopular choices -- and President Trump's criticism of the moderator -- are underscored by the second debate moderator Steve Scully lying about his Twitter account being hacked after he sent what appeared to be an anti-Trump tweet.

Second, the lack of focus on foreign policy is disappointing for the American people.

The announced topics largely go over topics that previous debates already covered, including COVID-19 response, race in America, climate change, American families, and leadership.

Biden campaign removes retired general from video after reportedly refusing his first request for image to be removed.

"Retired Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, who led the anti-ISIS fight from 2015 to 2016, wrote on LinkedIn over the weekend that 'a number of people' believe he had endorsed Joe Biden for president after the campaign released a video this month showing images of the officer with Biden in Iraq. 'I'm not a political person, but this isn't about just me. I object to the use of ANY military personnel in uniform in political ads - full stop,' he wrote in the post, which has since been deleted." (POLITICO)

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• What's happening: Joe Biden's campaign will remove images of a retired military leader from one of its online videos after he wrote a statement addressing the video on his LinkedIn account this past weekend.

• What's at stake: First, it seems that his image should not have been used in the first place.

As POLITICO reported: "MacFarland wrote that when he first asked to remove his photo, the campaign told him it was legal because of both the disclaimer and the fact that MacFarland’s name tape on his uniform was blurred. 'Nobody asked permission to use my image. My request to remove it was denied,' wrote MacFarland, who retired from the military in 2018. 'Let’s keep the military out of politics and vice versa. I think our country will be better off if we do.'"

Second, as the Washington Free Beacon reported: "This is not the first time Democrats have run afoul of concerns about civil-military relations during this year's election cycle. Earlier this month, Military Times reported that the Army disciplined the supervisor of two Army Reserve soldiers who flanked American Samoa Democratic Party leaders during a 2020 Democratic National Convention video."

NC Democratic governor seems to be caught on hot mic reassuring Biden that Cal Cunningham -- in the midst of an embarrassing personal scandal -- will "get across the line."

"North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper appeared to call Senate candidate Cal Cunningham's scandal 'frustrating,' but predicted his campaign would 'get across the line' during a conversation with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden that was caught on a hot mic on Monday. 'Thanks for coming out, you didn't have to do this,' Biden told Cooper, a Democrat." (Fox News)

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• What's happening: You can watch (and listen!) to the video yourself here.

As a reader from The Vote, you likely know the background already: Cal Cunningham, the Democratic candidate for Senate in North Carolina, faced an embarrassing personal scandal recently (he admitted to romantic text messages with a woman who was not his wife) -- and committed to stay in the race.

• What's at stake: North Carolina is a key state for the 2020 presidential election, and the Senate race could determine whether Republicans keep control of the Senate.

That's likely why national Democrats have declined to speak against Cunningham or urge him to drop out of the race. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee even spent an "additional $3 million" on ads.

Still, the race is currently within the margin of error in the polls, meaning the candidates are running neck and neck.

And, as The Hill notes: "About a quarter of likely voters felt that the recent news of Cunningham’s affair was important to their decision."