Hope-drained candidates meet for a Trump-less debate

When seven Republican presidential candidates took the stage for their second debate Wednesday, they likely did so with a sobering thought in their heads: The last such gathering did nothing to change the race. Tonight probably won’t either.

Such is the business of running against Donald Trump in 2023. The former president again ditched the affair in favor of some counterprogramming — this time to Michigan where he made an appeal to auto workers while appearing at a non-union shop. One could say it was a gamble. But Trump’s team has seen little upside to these events; and if there was any punishment for skipping the first, it is not apparent.

The primary has not been defined by debates but by Trump’s legal problems, which seem to be helping, not harming him, with Republican voters. No amount of squabbling, arguing, or contrasting has changed that.

But try, the others must.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum came to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, Calif. to find the right formula to jolt their campaigns.

The highlights of what happened are below.

The Split Screen Begins

Trump’s rally in Clinton Township, Mich., began well before the candidates were even introduced on stage. But even though he was speaking hundreds of miles away while they were backstage, his presence could be felt in Simi Valley.

As debate attendees and reporters gathered at the Reagan Library, Trump supporters on the main road leading to the library yelled into bullhorns and waved flags that read "He'll be back" and "Trump 2024." The Democratic National Committee was also bracketing the debate, with a plane flying overhead. A banner trailing behind it read: “GOP 2024: A race for the extreme MAGA base.”