Beneath stark stylistic differences, as politicians they are more similar than Romney would ever wish to admit.

At important junctures of his public career Romney—like many or perhaps most politicians—has revealed himself as a supremely transactional figure, flexible in altering his words and his positions to align with self-interest as the occasion demands. If Trump is the more transactional figure—boasting about his deal-making savvy rather than trying to defend his gyrations as rooted in some higher morality—this is only a difference in degree, not a difference in kind.

Once the debate leaves the field of principle and moves to the field of results, there is no denying which of the two transactional figures is better at the game. Thus Trump’s rejoinder Wednesday: “I won big, and he didn’t.”