As the debate went on, and moderator Jake Tapper jumped from subject to subject, some actual interesting policy debates arose. Paul, Gov. Chris Christie, and others had a strong conversation about medical marijuana and the policing of drugs. It required details and familiarity with policy. Trump, who hadn’t known about the basics of New Hampshire’s heroin problem until the Rolling Stone reporter briefed him on it, seemed to understand that the further a debate gets into policy, the better off he is pretending he’s not there.

Sen. Marco Rubio was able to effectively corner him on his lack of foreign policy knowledge. “I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit [in office],” Trump defended himself, “and you look at what’s going on, this world is a mess.” This was largely Trump’s contribution to the foreign policy debate: I’ll figure it out later, and by the way, you all suck. That’s always been his style, but it’s much harder to get away with it when you’re onstage with your 10 chief rivals for three hours with poor air conditioning.