Opinion | The Real Trump Risk for Republicans

The pundits are saying that Donald Trump emerged unscathed from Wednesday night’s debate because only Chris Christie attacked him as a would-be dictator. But that misses something important about what happened on stage. Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis warned GOP voters that Mr. Trump is likely to fail in a second term and explained why—and the best evidence is the record of his first term.

Mr. Christie chided his Republican rivals for failing to take on the former President directly, which is true to some extent. But the former New Jersey Governor’s warnings that Mr. Trump is a threat to the republic won’t persuade GOP voters who remember Democrats saying the same in 2016.