This pointless Republican debate left us all feeling a little bit dumber | Moira Donegan

Nikki Haley's barb directed at Vivek Ramaswamy summed up the whole spectacle rendered meaningless by Trump's absence

Every time I hear you I feel a little bit dumber," Nikki Haley said onstage at the second Republican presidential primary debate last night. She was talking to Vivek Ramaswamy, the businessman currently polling at an average of about 6% among likely Republican voters. But she could have been talking about any one of the seven candidates onstage: Haley, Ramaswamy, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, South Carolina senator Tim Scott, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former vice-president Mike Pence and the North Dakota governor, Doug Burgum. The debate was rancorous, chaotic and punctured by statements so hateful, outlandish and extreme that they made an impression even by the current Republican party's very low standards.

Worst of all, the whole thing was pointless: Donald Trump, who is leading in the polls by more than 40 points, was not there. The candidates onstage, wannabes, also-rans and cynical self-promoters, spent much of the evening attacking each other. But for the most part, they did not attack him.

Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist