The Slatest for Aug. 24: Last Night Told Us a Lot About Ron DeSantis

Last night’s debate was particularly high-stakes for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who’s been struggling to break out as a real challenger to Donald Trump. So, how did he do? Not horrible, but he remained “a supporting actor” throughout the evening, Jim Newell writes. He homes in on a key question DeSantis couldn’t answer, and what it tells us about DeSantis’ prospects. (Come for the debate analysis, stay for the part where Newell describes Vivek Ramaswamy as “a nimble, red meat–feeding imp.”)

Nikki Haley’s debate performance, meanwhile, impressed general election voters. Ben Mathis-Lilley takes a look at why—and why it won’t matter, in the end, anyway!

Plus: Mathis-Lilley details how Ramaswamy emerged from debate night as the Republican Pete Buttigieg, in that all the other candidates hate him.

And while the evening didn’t exactly have a clear winner politically, Heather Schwedel reflects on how Doug Burgum’s brows made a strong showing.

So what went on in that pretaped Trump interview with Tucker Carlson that aired at the same time as the debate? Things got weird. Molly Olmstead recaps how, remarkably, Tucker’s paranoia—not just about potential threats facing Trump, but about what he thinks really happened to, er, Jeffrey Epstein?—made Trump seem kind of normal in comparison.

As we wait for Trump to surrender to authorities, Slate considers: Which Trump property would you choose for home confinement? Dan Kois and Jonathan L. Fischer weigh the pros and cons of the former president’s two most lavish residences.

Plus: When Trump turns himself in at the Fulton County jail, he won’t experience the full horror of the facility. George Chidi explains why no one should.

The charges Trump et. al. face in Georgia touch upon an alleged scheme to illegally access and steal copies of voting system software—but there needs to be a bigger federal investigation of similar attempts nationwide, Ben Clements and Susan Greenhalgh write.

Plus: Mark Meadows is trying to move his case out of Georgia court. Dennis Aftergut explains why he won’t get off that easy.

From The Summer I Turned Pretty to Heartstopper, we’ve come a long way since the days of Carrie Bradshaw questioning whether bisexuality even exists. Madeline Ducharme reflects on the rise of the bisexual male hunk.

… or at least, like Doug Burgum, we wish we did!

Thanks so much for reading, and we’ll see you tomorrow.