Debate failed to deliver for those seeking a Trump alternative

The nation got an insight Wednesday night into what Floridians already suspected — that Gov. Ron DeSantis ousted two Democratic prosecutors, turned schools into culture-war battlegrounds and purposefully underplayed the state’s response to COVID to create bragging rights for his own political ambitions.

That is a logical inference from his frequent boasts during the first Republican presidential debate. But the debate was light on what voters need most to hear: Why Donald Trump should not be president again.