Did you watch the second Democratic debate tonight? It was better than last night’s. Here are the highlights, according to Self:

Kamala Harris won it going away. She was sharp, aggressive, and took chances (e.g., tearing into Joe Biden, and criticizing Barack Obama). She totally dominated the stage. It wasn’t even close. The only time she faltered was in her closing statement. Back in January, David Brooks wrote a column praising her strengths as a Democratic candidate. It was all on display tonight. Joe Biden choked. He looked old, unfocused, and unprepared. He was the night’s big loser. Bernie Sanders also seriously underperformed. He had the old Sanders fire, but it’s starting to sound ranty and stale. Pete Buttigieg did well. He’s smart and calm without being soporific. He’s probably not going to be the nominee, but if Warren or Harris wins the nomination he’s going to be their vice presidential pick. None of the other candidates on stage tonight are in the same league. Gillibrand is Tracy Flick, without the charisma. Swalwell was a dweeb. Hickenlooper and Bennet are wallpaper. Yang is a stunt candidate. And New Age authoress Marianne Williamson beamed in from the Planet Zork to slap Donald Trump across the face with her space glove: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-8oCXRu5mw] The Democrats have gone off the left-wing deep end. They all favor decriminalizing being in this country illegally, and giving government-funded health care to illegal aliens. After watching last night’s debate, as well as tonight’s, you would reasonably conclude that the Democratic field cares far more about the well being of illegal immigrants than actual Americans. It’s absolutely bizarre. And tonight, Kamala Harris ripped Joe Biden up for having opposed — wait for it — schoolbusing, one of the most unpopular policies of the 1970s. And Biden didn’t have a good comeback, either! Watch this. He surely couldn’t have foreseen being attacked for opposing busing, for heaven’s sake, but he has apparently been thinking that his association with Barack Obama would be sufficient to protect him from left-flank attacks on race. Kamala Harris put him on notice tonight that he’s vulnerable. The interesting thing is that Biden couldn’t muster a defense — against a candidate beating him up for having opposed busing! This would have been a perfect place for Biden to claim some centrist ground … but he choked. Of course, Harris might win the Democratic nomination by running on (I can’t believe I’m saying this in 2019) the glories of school busing, but boy, try running a general election campaign on that. Similarly, on immigration, Donald Trump is going to mop the floor with these open-borders mushheads.

As far as I can tell, this is now a five-way race: Biden, Sanders, Harris, Warren, and Buttigieg. If he has another debate like Wednesday night’s, Cory Booker could boost himself. Beto O’Rourke is fading fast.

I leave you with more New Age love from the Grand Mystic Royal Priestess of the Alibaba Temple of Zork, or Marin County, can’t figure out which:

marianne williamson was put on this earth solely as a role for tina fey to take on pic.twitter.com/DTFz5mKDbm — katelyn (@noitskatelyn) June 28, 2019

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UPDATE: Ur-#NeverTrumper David Brooks is dazed by how far left the Democrats are going. He says he could never vote for Trump, but that doesn’t meant he can bring himself to vote for a Democrat, given how far to the left they’re racing. Excerpts:

The party is moving toward all sorts of positions that drive away moderates and make it more likely the nominee will be unelectable. And it’s doing it without too much dissent. First, there is health care. When Warren and Kamala Harris raised their hands and said that they would eliminate employer-based health insurance, they made the most important gesture of the campaign so far. Over 70 percent of Americans with insurance through their employers are satisfied with their health plan. Warren, Harris and Sanders would take that away. According to a Hill-HarrisX survey, only 13 percent of Americans say they would prefer a health insurance system with no private plans. Warren and Sanders pin themselves, and perhaps the Democratic Party, to a 13 percent policy idea. Trump is smiling.

More:

Third, Democrats are wandering into dangerous territory on immigration. They properly trumpet the glories immigrants bring to this country. But the candidates can’t let anybody get to the left of them on this issue. So now you’ve got a lot of candidates who sound operationally open borders. Progressive parties all over the world are getting decimated because they have fallen into this pattern.

Yep. Seems to me like the big winner from these first two nights of Democratic presidential debates is … Donald Trump.

UPDATE.2: Reader Jonah R., from the “Democrats Invite The World” comments thread: