Trump looked last night like the alpha dog with two chihuahuas yipping, yapping and nipping at his heels.

The GOP Establishment and the Mediacroty will proclaim Marco Rubio the winner. He did what both wanted him to do: attack Trump.

Rubio got the best of the fray a few times. He exposed Trump as all bluster and no substance. What substance Trump has is a bundle of contradictions. EG – “Planned Parenthood does great things. And I’ll defund them.”

Some pundits said this is the debate that will do in Trump. Which makes about the tenth consecutive time they’ve said that.

If this one doesn’t upend him, here’s a theory on why: Trump’s fans love him because he treats politics, politicians and the media – the whole process and everybody in it – with contempt.

He showed contempt for his opponents, contempt for the moderator, contempt for the panel and contempt for the audience on hand.

That’s exactly how the Trumpettes feel.

The saddest part of the debate was seeing George H.W. Bush. It was like seeing your once-vital, long-revered, war-hero, onetime-Master of the Universe grandfather near the end in a nursing home.

What did it take for Barbara and him to show up last night, the week after their son was forced to drop out of the race? They have to be wondering: “Who the hell are these people and what the hell happened to my party?”

The tableau symbolized the decline of the GOP Establishment that is scandalized by Trump, gobsmacked by Jeb’s failure and desperately relying on a windup toy like Rubio to redeem them. (Somebody needs to adjust that boy’s meds; he sounds like Alvin the Chipmunk.)

The only candidate to salute Bush, as I recall, was John Kasich. That in itself is sad.

Appropriately enough, the most delusional person in politics is the RNC Chairman, Reince Priebus, who tweeted, “another spirited debate between most diverse/well-qualified group of presidential candidates in history.”