Often in presidential debates there’s an “uh-oh” moment when a candidate gets caught on a baited hook, endangering their election chances. That moment came in the second and final 2020 presidential debate last night when Joe Biden admitted he would end America’s fossil fuel industry.

One of the primary goals in any debate is to catch your opponent in a contradiction or lie. In presidential debates in particular, the objective is to get your opponent to expose themselves on an issue that isn’t popular with the American public. For Biden, that issue is his position on fossil fuels and, more specifically, on fracking.

President Donald Trump has been badgering Biden over his fracking flip-flop, noting that Biden had repeatedly referenced his support to ban fracking during his Democrat primary run only to suddenly turn and claim he doesn’t support a fracking ban.

Last night, Trump worked to set the hook and catch a slippery Biden.

Early on, Trump chummed the water by first mentioning fracking as a way to highlight that Biden is beholden to his party’s socialist polices: “You’re going to have socialized medicine. Just like you went on with fracking — ‘We’re not going to have fracking. We’re going to stop fracking. We’re going to stop fracking.’ Then he goes to Pennsylvania … and he says, ‘Oh, we’re gonna have fracking.’”

As the debate turned to the topic of energy, Trump once again baited Biden by asserting, “We’re going to have the greatest economy in the world. But if you want to kill the economy, get rid of your oil industry. And what about fracking? Now we have to ask him about fracking.”

Biden took the bait, falsely claiming, “I never said I oppose fracking.”

Trump set the hook, firing back, “You said it on tape.”

Biden retorted, “I — show the tape. Put it on your website. The fact of the matter is he’s flat-out lying.” Biden was clearly caught on the line, and Trump reeled him in.

Trump asked, “Would you rule out banning fracking?” It was at that moment that Biden realized he was caught and the flailing began, as indicated by Biden’s bumbling equivocating, “I do rule out banning fracking because the answer we need — we need other industries to transition to get to, ultimately, a complete zero emissions by 2025. What I will do with fracking over time is make sure that we can capture the emissions from the fracking. Capture the emissions from gas. We can do that and we can do that by investing money into — it’s a transition to that.”

At that point, debate moderator Kristen Welker attempted to save Biden by interjecting, but to no avail. “Excuse me, "Trump continued to press. "He was against fracking. He said it. I will show that to you tomorrow. ‘I am against fracking,’ until he got the nomination [and] went to Pennsylvania. Then he said — you know what, Pennsylvania? He’ll be against it very soon because his party is totally against it.”

Biden, knowing he was caught in a BIG lie, sought to further equivocate, falsely claiming, “Fracking on federal Land, I said. No fracking or oil on federal land.”

Welker again came to Biden’s aid with an anti-oil-industry question, but Trump knew he still had Biden on the line and didn’t let him off. “Would you close down the oil industry?” he asked. Biden answered, “I would transition from the oil industry, yes.” Welker’s follow-up said it all: “Why would you do that?”

Finally, Trump showed off his trophy catch, simply observing, “Basically what he’s saying is he’s going to destroy the oil industry. Will you remember that, Texas? Will you remember that, Pennsylvania? Oklahoma? Ohio?”

True to his word, Trump posted the tape.

Here you go @JoeBiden! pic.twitter.com/UBqPJT85Pt

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 23, 2020

If Trump comes out on top in November, he will likely have done so by winning Pennsylvania. And Trump may have Biden’s “uh-oh” moment to thank for it.