The Cliff Notes version of the 2024 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination starts and ends with a bunch of Davids afraid to sling the rock at Goliath. They instead threw stones at one another as Goliath rolled boulders on them fighting down below.

Wednesday’s CNN debate between Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis showcased this bizarre commitment to the only-for-2024 commandment thou shalt not speak ill of the frontrunner.

When served up a slowball to bash Donald Trump over the fence, DeSantis quickly pivoted to people not running against him in the primary: “But you know who else deserves to be criticized?” He felt more comfortable attacking the woman who occupied the debate stage with him but not the same ground within the Republican Party. “Nikki Haley,” he explained, “anytime the going gets tough, anytime people come down, she caves.”

When DeSantis highlighted her record on Social Security, she responded, “You’re just so desperate.” Though somewhat less reticent than DeSantis regarding criticisms of Trump, she repeatedly called the Florida governor a liar and plugged a DeSantisLies.com website 16 times. But when the CNN hosts similarly steered her in the direction of going negative on the frontrunner, she, like DeSantis, demurred: “Don’t ask me what President Trump thinks. You need to have him on this debate stage and ask him for yourself.”

Jim Antle wrote earlier this week that “the criticism of Trump is coming a little easier and with less apology from his GOP foes, especially DeSantis and Haley” but questioned whether it all amounted to too little and arrived too late.

The also-rans to the also-rans displayed this trepidation to varying degrees.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the most faithful devotee of thou shalt not speak ill of the frontrunner, famously held up a “Nikki=CORRUPT” sign during one debate. Even Chris Christie, the one major Republican candidate showing no phobia of criticizing Trump, offered a negative assessment of Haley, the woman he endorsed, as he dropped out this week. “She’s going to get smoked,” he assessed on a hot mic, “we both know it.” (READ MORE from Daniel J. Flynn: Christie Wins His Campaign)

Why did not Ron DeSanctimonious call his opponent Captain Chaos, emphasize how his out-of-control deficit spending and economically illiterate push for zero fed interest rates helped lead to the inflation spike, and speak endlessly on how Trump handed Anthony Fauci enormous power by casting him in the starring role at press conferences?

He feared alienating the Trump voters he sought to somehow capture without criticizing their favored candidate. Walking this tightrope in this way always ended in him landing hard on the circus floor.

What explains the gun-shy manner of the other aspirants?

Ramaswamy ran for vice president or some Pete Buttigieg–type office in the second Trump administration. Throwback Pence ran in 2024 for the 1996 Republican nomination. Haley ran in 2024 for the 2028 Republican nomination. Everyone’s hidden agenda conflicted with their stated agenda of running to win this time around.

Who of the also-rans won?

Chris Christie did. He ostensibly ran for president. He really ran for token Republican on panel television shows. He deliberately appealed then not to Republicans in Iowa or New Hampshire but to the registered Democrats in New York and Washington who cast talking heads. That job pays better than the presidency.

Larry Bird famously asked a stunned locker room full of fellow competitors at the 1988 NBA All-Star Weekend three-point competition, “Who’s coming in second?”

Donald Trump never made such an audacious proclamation. His competitors meekly resigned themselves to such a fate before they even announced. So why cannot scribblers write the postmortem before the first contest?

People who run for second never come in first.