Donald Trump’s rivals for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination hoped the debate stage in Miami would put them at the center of the political universe Wednesday.

But instead, they found themselves competing with the former president for the attention of GOP primary voters.

Never one to miss the chance to upstage his foes, Mr. Trump held a campaign rally miles away in Hialeah, taking the stage to raucous chants of “USA! USA!” roughly 90 minutes later than scheduled, and a half an hour into the televised Republican showdown.

“Crooked Joe Biden and the radical left Democrats are turning the United States into communist Cuba and you know, because we have some great Cubans here,” Mr. Trump told the crowd. “Nobody ever did more for Americans who love Cuba than a gentleman named Donald J. Trump when he was president.”

“We are here tonight to declare that crooked Joe Biden’s Banana Republic ends on Nov. 5, 2024 - it ends,” Mr. Trump said. “2024 is our final battle. Stand with me in the fight. We will finish the job we started so brilliantly seven years ago.”

The split-screen was symbolic of the suffocating hold Mr. Trump has had on the Republican race. 

While his rivals fielded questions from moderators in the traditional debate format, Mr. Trump riled up and entertained a rowdy crowd that turned out for one of his signature rallies down the street.

He leads by wide margins in early state polls, despite a spate of legal challenges that threatened his real estate empire and could land him behind bars.

Indeed, Mr. Trump has turned the courtroom into the campaign trail, shifting the spotlight away from the rest of the field of contenders scrambling to convince voters in Iowa and New Hampshire to turn the page.

Mr. Trump also hung over the debate stage as moderators kicked off things by asking the other contenders to spell out to voters why they are a stronger candidate than Mr. Trump.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders endorsed Mr. Trump and introduced him to the rally crowd as a “disrupter” who is the “complete and total opposite of Joe Biden.”

“Our country has never needed Donald more than we do right now,” said Ms. Sanders, who served as Trump’s White House press secretary. “President Trump is not afraid to make waves and get the job done - even if it is politically incorrect.”

• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.