Donald Trump was a no-show for the second Republican debate. He still came out on top.

Donald Trump won.

At the second Republican primary debate Wednesday, one that stretched for two hours, neither a question nor an answer mentioned the 91 criminal counts the former president now faces in four jurisdictions. Juggling a broad range of issues, the seven candidates on stage spent more time and energy attacking Vivek Ramaswamy, a political newcomer now scoring in single digits in national polls, than they did on Trump.

Who, by the way, has a yawning lead over all of them.

There were more attacks on Trump this time than in the first debate in August, but the jibes were more often simply for failing to show up than for anything he has done, as president or since then. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie dubbed him "Donald Duck" for dodging questions. But he wasn't taken to task in a concerted way for what could be a serious vulnerability in the GOP: His statement last week suggesting he would negotiate a compromise on abortion, blurring the hard line on the question that has defined the GOP for decades.

"He should be here explaining his comments," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in the only reference to Trump's remarks last week on NBC's "Meet the Press." Trump had accused DeSantis of making a "serious mistake" by signing a six-week ban on abortion in his state and blamed abortion for costing Republicans in last year's midterm elections.

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During the contentious, sometimes chaotic forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, hosted by Fox Business and Univision, candidates frequently talked over one another. Moderators Dana Perino, Stuart Varney and Ilia Calderon at times struggled to maintain order and control.

The final scorecard: Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley was crisp and specific, as she was in the first debate. DeSantis, though at times still awkward, delivered a more confident performance than he did before. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who had sometimes seemed to disappear in the first debate, was more assertive. Ramaswamy once again found himself under fire from several of his colleagues.

"Honestly, every time I hear you I feel a little bit dumber," Haley told him.

But to remind: Ramaswamy now ranks fourth in the GOP field at 5.1%, according to an average of national polls by Realclearpolitics.com. Meanwhile, Trump's support is at 56.6%, an edge of more than 42 percentage points over DeSantis, at second.

When the evening ended, there were no signs the fundamental dynamic of the race had shifted. None of the contenders had effectively challenged Trump's standing as No. 1. None even emerged as the clear No. 2, the leading alternative to Trump, a standing DeSantis has lost. And a muddled field of multiple contenders eases Trump's path to claiming the nomination, as it did in 2016.

Some of the candidates may have had other goals in mind, either to be Trump's running mate or to run for president in some future campaign, or for fame or vindication. Because actually getting the nomination would mean wrenching it from Trump's increasingly secure grip.

Instead of being in California, he had appeared earlier Wednesday addressing autoworkers in Michigan, one of the half-dozen swing states in the general election. That was one more sign he already has pivoted to the general election, campaigning against President Joe Biden and feeling free to largely ignore the Republicans challenging him for the nomination.

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When the debate was over, senior Trump adviser Chris LaCivita on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, called on the Republican National Committee to "immediately put an end to any further primary debates" to focus instead on defeating Biden.

The Trump campaign already had sent out a fundraising appeal. "As you read this message, disloyal "Republicans" (RINOs, as we like to call them) are dishonestly attacking yours truly in tonight's GOP debate and are playing right into Crooked Joe's hands."

That said, they weren't attacking "yours truly" very hard.