The epigraph for the primary 2024 Republican presidential debate got here from Vivek Ramaswamy. “It’s not morning in America. We’re dwelling in a darkish second,” he mentioned, halfway by way of the melee in Milwaukee. He appeared to talk for each candidate on the stage throughout a dour and punchy night on Fox Information.

Ramaswamy was a becoming messenger for the mantra, as a result of the talk was his popping out celebration. He was, if not definitively the winner of the talk, clearly the primary character. No candidate was so desirous to get within the combine on each concern, none so prepared with quips, none so desirous to land a blow on rivals, and none so prone to be the goal of blows himself.

“Who the heck is that this skinny with a humorous identify and what the heck is he doing on this debate stage?” Ramaswamy joked on the outset, borrowing a line from President Barack Obama. It’s a set piece that he’s unlikely to have to make use of once more. Anybody watching the talk is aware of now.

Maybe essentially the most shocking factor about Ramaswamy’s central position was that anybody aside from Trump was capable of declare the highlight. The previous president dominates polling within the Republican main, however he skipped the talk, selecting as a substitute to grant an interview to Tucker Carlson, a gathering of two males united by their grievances towards Fox Information. Forward of the occasion, many pundits anticipated that Trump would handle to dominate, even in absence. However aside from a single query concerning the former president’s felony indictments, moderators Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum have been remarkably efficient at avoiding Trump’s shadow.

That was maybe the one factor at which they have been efficient. The candidates, even mild-mannered ones like Pence, have been capable of steamroll the moderators, claiming much more time than allotted and dodging virtually each query requested of them. The talk almost featured an enchanting second early on, when Fox performed a video of a Catholic College pupil asking the candidates to assuage younger individuals’s considerations about local weather change. The moderators requested the candidates to boost their palms to say whether or not they consider people are inflicting local weather change. However the candidates rebelled, refusing to take action, and in the long run solely Ramaswamy and DeSantis gave clear solutions. (They don’t.)

This type of domination of the stage and disrespect for moderators was revolutionary when Trump began doing it within the 2016 main, however different Republicans have discovered from him. And it was Ramaswamy, essentially the most MAGA candidate on stage, who blew by way of the rules most. He jumped in on query after query, and reaped applause for it. He grinned broadly as rivals attacked him, after which used the response time that earned him to speak extra. He overtly mocked his rivals, at one level pantomiming an individual testing the air by licking a finger whereas Governor Ron DeSantis tried to elucidate his place on Ukraine. “You may have put down all people on this stage,” former Ambassador Nikki Haley grumbled at one level.

This made Ramaswamy a goal of many assaults, particularly from former Governor Chris Christie, former Vice President Mike Pence, and Haley. Christie quipped that the final skinny man with a humorous identify to face on a debate stage was Barack Obama and mentioned, with some motive, that Ramaswamy appeared like ChatGPT. Pence sneered that this second was no time for “on-the-job coaching” for a novice like Ramaswamy. “You don’t have any foreign-policy expertise, and it exhibits,” Haley snapped.

Haley additionally had an unexpectedly robust efficiency. It’s no simple activity for a former governor and ambassador to the U.N. to painting herself as an outsider, however she was fast on her toes and managed to assault the Republican institution with out falling into the DeSantis lure of veering into far-right rhetoric. She attacked rivals for voting for enormous authorities spending will increase, and blistered Pence and others for claiming they’d cross a federal abortion ban regardless of the boundaries to that in Congress. “Be trustworthy with the American individuals,” Haley mentioned.

The massive loser in all of this was DeSantis, who desperately wanted to point out he was nonetheless the clear second-place candidate, and failed to take action. Although he prevented including to the gaffes which have typically haunted him on the marketing campaign path, he additionally added few highlights. He reached for private anecdotes, together with about his personal kids, and ended up sounding scientific. DeSantis additionally dodged query after query: He didn’t clarify how he’d lower federal spending, whether or not he wished a federal ban on abortion, how he’d struggle crime (aside from a bizarre apart about George Soros), or what to make of the Trump indictments.

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, who’s perpetually the topic of rumors of an impending breakout however by no means appears to truly get away, appeared to recede on the stage, the place his affable have an effect on and sluggish tempo of talking proved no match for the vitriol round him. Christie received in a number of good traces, however did nothing to alter the truth that his marketing campaign is doomed, nor did Pence. Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and Governor Doug Burgum of North Dakota squeaked onto the talk stage, however that received them little greater than a front-row seat to the fireworks.

Watching how Ramaswamy handles his new flip within the highlight might be fascinating. He’s charismatic, a easy orator, irreverent, and humorous. However it’s simple to think about his shtick will put on skinny. Ramaswamy sounds good, however when you decelerate and take into consideration what he mentioned, it usually makes little sense or means nothing. (A current profile by my colleague John Hendrickson showcases Ramaswamy’s issues of substance.) He additionally tasks the air of smarmy student-government president, which signifies that whereas Ramaswamy is aiming to be the following Trump, he dangers as a substitute changing into the following Ted Cruz. However Ramaswamy’s debate efficiency is certain to extend hypothesis that he may be the following Mike Pence—or at the very least take his place at Trump’s aspect as a vice-presidential candidate.