If the race to win the democratic party nomination hasn’t been divisive enough (it has), then the ninth democratic debate will surely cement the contention among the candidates and their supporters. I say this not only because the primary season has gotten underway, with both the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary in the books (sort of), but because this debate marks a major public entry point for a candidate who is only allowed on the debate stage because of the rules literally changing in his favor; Michael Bloomberg.

The media has been playing up the small gap in polling between Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg as their main source of “conflict” in recent weeks but that changed once it seemed that Bloomberg was likely to take the stage. Now it’s Bernie against Bloomberg. It makes sense they would pivot. It works great for the narrative they’re trying to sell. Us versus them. Democratic socialist versus capitalist. I’m not saying that to discount the glaring differences between the candidates, but to point out that regardless of what questions are asked by the moderators (among whom is Chuck Todd, g*d help me), how the candidates respond, or what conflicts between candidates get aired, we are bound to hear it from the general media with a heaping helping of conflict driven spin.

My non-professional recommendation would be this: watch the debate for yourself and use your own viewing to temper what you glean from the media coverage afterwards.

The 9th Democratic Primary debate will be broadcast at 9pm ET on NBC News and MSNBC and can be streamed live on the NBC and MSNBC websites.