In the build-up to last night’s GOP debate pundits wondered if one of these seven Republican hopefuls would “move the needle” or have a “break-out moment” during the second debate.

I was pondering a different set of questions before the debate began: Would Vivek be as annoying as last time? Would Mike Pence be as rude? Would Doug Burgum’s eyebrows be the only thing we’d remember about him at the end of the evening? Would we miss Asa Hutchinson?

The answer to that last question would be a hard no. Why was Asa at the first debate? Did he really think he had a shot? He will not be missed.

What follows are my hot takes from the debate. I’m going to write as the candidates spar. These will be my first impressions of what happens on another crowded debate stage.

Yes, I will watch every minute.

It’s 9 p.m. and the candidates are at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. The debate is being sponsored by Fox Business and Univision.

Dana Perino, Stuart Varney and Ilia Calderon from Univision are the moderators.

9:10 - Looks like they’re letting the audience hoot and cheer again. What happened to “hold your applause until the end?”

Ten minutes in and all of the candidates are talking at once. Calderon is trying to get control of candidates who want to talk about the UAW strike.

Immediately Tim Scott is more animated than last time. Looks stronger. Wearing a bright red and blue rep tie.

9:23 - Moderators are completely losing control of the candidates who are talking over each other again. It’s a cacophony. A clusterfart. Bad television. You simply can’t have seven politicians on the stage - each vying to become the leader of the free world - and expect them to politely wait their turn to speak. 

Christie is ignoring the bell and going after Trump.

Tim Scott is mixing it up with Vivek. Calls out the younger man who accused all of the candidates of being “bought and paid for” at the first debate.

9:33 - And, it’s a free-for-all. All of the candidates are speaking over each other. Except DeSantis.

A question from the Univision moderator about “dreamers.” Will anyone have the courage to say we need to stop calling them that? They aren’t dreamers, they’re people in the country illegally.

Sheesh.

No one does.

The question lets the candidates pivot to illegal immigration, though. A glaring omission in the first debate. They all agree that we need to stop the flow of illegals.

DeSantis once again looks competent and smart. In a sane world, he’d be the candidate.

Nikki Haley seems ticked off tonight. She may have won the first debate but she seems to be trying to get the award for rudest person on the stage tonight.

Does she hate everyone?

9:43 - Chris Christie has his moment. The one he’s been waiting for. Looks into the camera and addresses Trump, saying “We know you’re watching, you can’t help yourself.”

He said the former president is ducking the debates because he doesn't want to defend his record. 

“If you don’t show up to debate, you won’t be called Donald Trump, you’ll be called Donald Duck,“

Shots fired. Not sure Christie’s money shot worked, though. His Donald Duck line fell flat. No doubt that’ll be a sound bite that gets played over and over.

Finally, the trans issue comes up. It’s important. Parental rights is a winning issue for the GOP.  It didn’t come up at the first debate.

Vivek says trans children have a mental illness.

Exactly.

Nikki Haley going after Vivek again.

“Honestly, every time I hear you I feel a little bit dumber,” she said.

10:20 - They’re all talking at once. Dana Perino threatens to cut mics. 

Goes to DeSantis. Question about Ukraine.

“It’s in our interest to end this war. They are not going to have a blank check.”

DeSantis constantly makes sense. Why isn’t he catching fire?

The neo-cons react: Tim Scott bizarrely states that “90% of the money going to Ukraine is a loan.”

Seriously? Does he really believe we’ll ever see a cent of the billions we’re pouring into Ukraine?

Mike Pence blurts out some sort of new cockamamie Domino Theory that if we don’t support Ukraine, China will go into Taiwan.

Wait, what?

Lines drawn: Haley, Scott, Christie, Burgum and Pence offer full-throated support for a war without end in Ukraine. It’s all about “degrading Russia” they agree.

Vivek, DeSantis not so much. DeSantis is nuanced. Denounces Putin but decries a conflict funded by an bottomless supply of American dollars.

Wish someone would point out that if the goverment shuts down the Ukrainian military will continue to get paid with our tax dollars, but American service members will not.

Alas, no.

10:55 - Inane but amusing exchange about Haley’s $50,000 curtains when she was U.N. ambassador. Haley and Scott screaming at each other.

“Obama bought those curtains!” Haley insists.

“Did you send them back? No, you hung them!,” Scott says, pantomiming curtains being hung

More cacophony.

Too many rehearsed cringe-inducing lines from Pence and Christie and Vivek. None are even memorable.

Nikki Haley won the first debate, but she seemed prickly and peevish tonight, constantly interrupting and talking over people. Doing herself no favors.

Tim Scott was mixing it up more tonight. Had a nice moment talking about racism and how it influenced his life. Again, he seems like the nicest person on the stage.

Chris Christie continues to bait Trump.

DeSantis points to his record as governor of Florida and his military service. Competence isn’t sexy. Unfortunately.

Burgum’s eyebrows are as dramatic as ever. He has a “me too” strategy, keeps trying to piggyback on DeSantis, insisting he too did things in his state!

Dana Perino proves that she’s not a serious moderator by asking who should be “voted off the island” as if this is an episode of “Survivor.” Is she really this stupid? These are seven people who want to lead the country and she’s treating them like the dirty, disheveled contestants on a reality TV show. I expected better from the former White House secretary and the Fox News host.

What was she thinking?

DeSantis - the only adult in the room, who objected to a silly “show of hands” moment in the last debate - ends this charade saying Perino’s asinine request is “disrespectful” to the candidates.

Thank you, Ron. Just saved his fellow Republicans from looking like a bunch of fools.

Vivek closes out the debate with a rehearsed speech that he’s given every time he’s interviewed about how the Make America Great Movement doesn’t belong to Trump. Someone younger needs to “take it to the next level.”

Maybe so. But not him.

Once again, Biden got off easy. No one talked about the impeachment inquiry, his ties to his son’s influence peddling businesses. Other than a few remarks early on about inflation and Pence’s rehearsed line that Biden shouldn’t be on a picket line, “but on an unemployment line” the candidates were more focused on the missing candidate than the worst president in American history.

Haley was a mess with her cranky performance. Tim Scott emerged more leader-like. Pence was a non-factor. Vivek was not quite as annoying as during the first debate, only cause they kept the mic away from him.

DeSantis - who refused to jump into the bickering - won.

The stage was too crowded. The parameters for getting into debates need to be tightened.

No one moved the needle. No break-out moment.