There’s a saying made famous by Dale Earnhardt—“second place is just the first loser”—that applies both to NASCAR drivers and next week’s G.O.P. debate in Milwaukee. The Republican primary field, after all, has been stuck in a sort of stasis. So far, eight candidates have qualified for the first presidential debate, but only seven of them have committed to showing up, and none of them poll anywhere close to one man who refuses to say whether he’ll attend: Donald Trump. Of course, it’s difficult to draw a contrast with the frontrunner if he’s not there, especially when most of his putative rivals are still tripping over one another to defend him after his fourth criminal indictment. It doesn’t help his few critics, including Mike Pence and Chris Christie, that recent surveys show Trump and Biden polling neck-and-neck.