Three decades ago, when Saddam was being driven from Kuwait, he ordered his troops to set fire to hundreds of Kuwaiti oil wells on the way out. Given Trump’s performances during the first debate and last night’s dueling town halls, it seems like he’s considering a similar strategy: Ruin as much stuff on the way out as possible. Rachel Maddow on the president’s dangerous lies.

+ WaPo: Rather than condemn the QAnon conspiracy theory, Trump elevates its dangerous central assertion about pedophilia. Yes, that is a president lighting an oil well, folks. And capping it will take a long, long time. And there will be opponents. Politico: The GOP starts forging a new alliance with QAnon.

+ It’s hard not to imagine that the past four years would have been a lot different if more journalists had pushed back on the Trump craziness the way Savannah Guthrie did. Example: Just this week you retweeted to your 87 million followers a conspiracy theory that Joe Biden orchestrated to have SEAL Team 6 killed to cover up the fake death of bin Laden. Now, why would you send a lie like that to your followers? Trump: That was a retweet. That was an opinion of somebody. And that was a retweet. I’ll put it out there. Guthrie: I don’t get that. You’re the president. You’re not someone’s crazy uncle who can retweet whatever. (Best response: Mary Trump’s, “Actually…”)

+ The New Yorker’s Susan Glasser: The Presidential Town Halls Were Mister Rogers Versus Nasty Uncle Trump. (Or maybe Mister Rogers vs King Friday.)