PITY the eight hapless contenders on the stage during the first debate of the 2024 Republican primary season last Wednesday night (Aug 23): Even in his absence, former president Donald Trump – the “elephant not in the room”, as the Fox News moderator referred to him – dominated the evening.

With his campaign’s high command ruling the stage in Milwaukee while he appeared on a pre-taped interview with Tucker Carlson on X – the social media platform formerly known as Twitter – who really cared what North Dakota Governor Douglas James Burgum had to say about Chinese control of the global batteries production?

Or who paid much attention to the jumbled utterings of 38-year-old businessman Vivek (“the only person on the stage who isn’t bought and paid for”) Ramaswamy, and the retorts by former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who described him as a “guy who sounds like ChatGPT”?