First Thing: Trump’s rivals accuse him of being ‘missing in action’ at Republican debate

Seven candidates faced off at the Ronald Reagan library in California, with frontrunner Trump again choosing to skip. Plus, how New York is breaking free of Airbnb's clutches

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Good morning.

The absence of Donald Trump played a central role in the second Republican primary debate of the 2024 election season, as seven White House hopefuls tried and mostly failed to shake up a race in which the former president remains the clear frontrunner.

What were the key takeaways from the debate? Amid the squabble of the seven candidates, all of whom trail Trump significantly, Americans were left to parse which direction the Republican party plans to take in 2024. Here are the main takeaways from the two-hour debate that aired on Fox Business.

Did the candidates tell the truth? The seven Republican presidential candidates offered an array of dubious data and claims to prop up their talking points. Here are six factchecks from the night.

Who won the Republican debate? Our panel responds.

Do shutdowns pay off politically? Past shutdowns - most recently in 2013, 2018 and 2019 - have been stoked by Republican hardliners in Congress but have not paid off politically. The most recent closure was prompted by Donald Trump, then president, over immigration policy. The Congressional Budget Office put the cost of the 35-day shutdown at about $18bn and said $3bn was wiped off US GDP.