When asked recently what he thought should be the first question at CNN’s Joe Biden-Donald Trump presidential debate on Thursday, ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos had a succinct answer: “Who won the last election?”

The moment speaks to how unusual this debate will be — and the challenge for moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.

That has been apparent in recent days given the attacks coming from Trump and his allies, who have gone after Tapper and Bash as CNN figures who are biased against Maga. On Monday, the situation reached the point where the network issued a statement defending the two.

The pre-debate CNN bashing coming from Team Trump, though, is hardly a surprise, as he has lambasted the moderators in the past two election cycles.

More vexing for the moderators may be just what questions to ask, and how and when to ask them. The times demand...