Fourth Republican debate again fails to shake up a race dominated by the guy who wasn't there

Republicans held their fourth presidential primary debate, and once again, the likely nominee wasn’t on stage. Let’s be clear: Donald Trump is at nearly 60% in the national polling average, well over 40 percentage points ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in second place. Trump looks a little weaker in the early states, to be sure. But he’s still at 45.9% in Iowa and 44.7% in New Hampshire, with no one else cracking 20% in either state. This debate comes after the Koch brothers-founded Americans for Prosperity Action endorsed former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley in a last-ditch effort to beat Trump, which put Haley in the spotlight for debate night, given that the actual leader of the race wasn’t there.

Both DeSantis and shady businessman Vivek Ramaswamy took the bait and went after Haley, with Ramaswamy in typically insulting form—including holding up a notepad on which he’d written “Nikki = corrupt”—and DeSantis in typically bigoted form, attacking her for supposedly opposing a bill banning medical care for transgender kids. (Haley assured Republican voters that she’s anti-trans, calling trans girls’ participation in sports “the women's issue of our time.”) Both DeSantis and Ramaswamy attacked Haley for the support she’s gotten from big donors, to which she responded, accurately, “In terms of these donors that are supporting me, they’re just jealous. They wish that they were supporting them.” Of DeSantis specifically, she said, again accurately, “He’s mad because those Wall Street donors used to support him and now they support me.”