Only Haley and DeSantis have a shot at defeating Trump for GOP’s 2024 nomination

And then there were four — but really only two — viable challengers to Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination.

The only two candidates on stage at Wednesday night’s debate with a fighting chance of moving into the White House come 2025 are Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley.

Going into the evening, it seemed safe to assume that ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Vivek Ramaswamy’s presences would only matter insofar as they added to or detracted from DeSantis and Haley’s performances.