In the pre–Donald Trump era of yonder, Republican presidential debates were usually dull and predictable affairs with occasional moments of comedy provided by cartoonish figures like Herman Cain. Last night’s GOP debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, managed to replicate this formula exactly, albeit without the second part. After most debates, it’s customary to ask who won or lost. In this case, the question is basically irrelevant: the candidates all seemed to lose something just by being there, much as the audience lost two hours of their lives by watching. Even at the superficial level of spectacle, the whole thing was an absolute dud.

It is also likely to change nothing. Donald Trump’s lead in the polls is so rock solid it’s difficult to imagine anything that might even slightly narrow the gap. Since the race officially began, this lead has only widened, with the only candidate who remotely seemed to pose a threat — Florida governor Ron DeSantis — plummeting from the first moment he declared his candidacy. Only adding to the absurdity was the fact that Trump’s name barely came up at all, a silence that only reinforced the impression he now dominates the GOP so completely that ostensible rivals are afraid to meaningfully criticize him.

While a few participants like DeSantis and Chris Christie did deign to criticize the frontrunner, the thrust of their attacks was aimed at his nonattendance rather than anything of substance. In an apparent reference to Trump, former vice president Mike Pence at one point suggested the party could “stand on the foundation of that conservative agenda that Ronald Reagan poured” or succumb to “the siren song of populism” — a dig that might have been more coherent had Pence not spent other moments in the debate attempting to brandish the achievements of the Trump administration in which he served.