Winners and losers from the second presidential debate

The best. Also, the worst.

(The second Republican presidential debate stage)

Well, that was something!

The second presidential debate featured seven candidates (none named Donald Trump) and a whole lot of shouting.

I watched the whole thing through — and did a LIVE chat for paid subscribers too! — and have a few thoughts on what was good and what was bad. They’re below.

WINNERS

• Donald Trump: Sure, he took a few glancing blows from Chris Christie and Ron DeSantis about not showing up for the debate. And Nikki Haley took a shot at him for his China policy while in office. But, the former president is ahead of all the candidates in the race by 40 points! And nothing that happened on that stage last night will change that fact — or disrupt the race in any meaningful way. Which is a win for Trump.

• Nikki Haley: Look, she’s good at this. After a slow start in the first 45 minutes or so, Haley came on strong in the debate’s second half. She was substantive and strong on policy. And she executed on a strategy: To attack the candidates vying with her for second place in the polls. She went after DeSantis on fracking. She went after Tim Scott on his decade in Washington. And she had the line of the night following Vivek Ramaswamy’s answer on TikTok: “Honestly, every time I hear you I feel a little bit dumber for what you say.” Haley was less dominant than in the first debate but still delivered a strong performance that should help her keep momentum in the race.

• Tim Scott: The South Carolina Senator clearly heard the critiques of his performance in the first debate (boring, irrelevant) and altered course in a major way. He found his way into almost every major conversation — and confrontation — of the night and even showed he is willing to throw a punch by attacking Haley on the gas tax. Scott was relentlessly positive (on brand) and came across as a cheerleader for America, which is a message that at least some portion of the Republican base should respond to.

• Chris Christie: The former New Jersey governor HAD to be thrilled with how much time he was given to talk. He was a centerpiece of a number of conversations, which was a marked difference from the first debate when he had to butt in to get heard. And, Christie delivered the message he has delivered throughout the campaign: It’s time to move on from Donald Trump. He did it repeatedly and effectively. The problem? The vast majority of Republican voters have a) no interest in moving on from Trump and b) really don’t like Christie.

• Central Time Zone: I watched this debate from Little Rock, Arkansas — and it was lovely. It ended at 10 pm, which gave me ample time to read, shower and get ready for bed. That one hour makes a big difference!

LOSERS

• Vivek Ramaswamy: It’s hard to accurately describe the whiplash I felt watching Ramaswamy’s performance in the second debate after watching how he acted in the first one. In the former, he was cocksure, unapologetic and argumentative. In this one, he was conciliatory and self effacing. For me, the turnabout seemed WAY too planned — like a brand consultant got to him and said “Dude, you need to tone it WAY down.” It felt inauthentic and just like Ramaswamy was trying way too hard.

• Mike Pence: Oomph. Pence feels to me like a guy running for president in 1980 not 2024. He talks slowly. He makes corny jokes. (The one about sleeping with a teacher for the last 38 years was cringeworthy.) None of it worked for me. And Pence felt decidedly secondary (or maybe even tertiary) to the debate. He was always trying to get a word in — and getting shut out. Not a great look for a former vice president.

• Ron DeSantis: I struggled for a while with where to put DeSantis. On the good side, he was significantly better than in the first debate. DeSantis stayed on message — Florida, Florida, Florida! — and even showed a willingness to go after Trump for not appearing at the debate. On the bad side, DeSantis acted, throughout the debate, like he was above all of the other candidates in the race. He didn’t attack any of them. And, when attacked by Haley, he purposely avoided going back at her. I think that fundamentally misunderstands the space that DeSantis now occupies. He is not the clear alternative to Trump; he is one of four candidates mired in low double digits or high single digits — all desperately trying to break out of the pack. For me, DeSantis didn’t do anything to change that dynamic on Wednesday night.

• The moderators: This debate was, pardon my language, a shit show. Candidates were constantly talking over each other — making it so you couldn’t understand anything anyone was saying. The questions seemed to have no rhyme or reason to them. When there was actual disagreement — like on China — the moderators shut the back and forth down too quickly. It was bad all around. One notable bright spot: Dana Perino, who I thought did a very nice job of trying to maintain some semblance of order and hold the candidates to account.