I’m with you, and I feel, even in retrospect, that Trump benefited from the first debate, in spite of the bias.
I think the most that Trump can accomplish in this debate is maybe, possibly, to put a spotlight on the emerging Biden corruption scandal. But he could do that in a speech announcing that he’s not going to put up with the Debate Commission’s hyperpartisan games.
I think Trump could benefit from “acting presidential” in the final debate. In the first debate he savaged Biden and had some funny one-liners. I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought he did well, but I was surprised to see the majority of people, even a lot on FR, disappointed in his performance. If he’s more restrained this time around it might reassure some people still concerned about Trump being “mean.”