I thought DeSantis would be the top target, and he was barely hit at all. He got all his points in, came back constantly to his theme of reversing American decline, and received lots of applause. So, he had a good night when he needed one. On the other hand, he was quite scripted, showed no humor, was evasive on some key questions, and demonstrated no ability to mix it up. If Trump ever shows up, will he really be able to stand up to him?
The whole Vivek thing is completely preposterous, but he had the audacity to stand in the middle of the stage and call everyone else corrupt and basically got away with it. Nikki Haley effectively slammed him on foreign policy. Otherwise, he won exchanges with Chris Christie and Mike Pence, had some genuinely tremendous answers (the one on education was particularly good), got a lot of time, and will generate more attention. The Vivek moment will continue.
Nikki Haley came to play. She outshone fellow South Carolinian Tim Scott, who just didn’t make himself a factor. She was forceful from her first answer on Trump and spending to the aforementioned exchange with Vivek, which brought people to their feet.
Much of the night was a beguiling peek into an alternate reality where Donald Trump isn’t running for president. But no matter how nice it was to hear talented Republicans (mostly) discuss things other than Donald Trump, the sad fact is if he had been there he likely would have completely dominated the stage.