They went there again! The 2020 Democratic presidential candidates carried over their political free-for-all from last week’s Las Vegas dustup. Since Bernie Sanders has been anointed the frontrunner by the print and broadcast media, based on his performance in the first three primary contests, the others had no choice but to go after him. He was challenged for his praise of Fidel Castro, the cost of Medicare for All, and his inability to unite the electorate.

But again out of the gate, Elizabeth Warren jumped on Mike Bloomberg, rehashing the allegations that he harassed and mistreated women in his company and demanded that he release all of them from their non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). In the wake of Harvey Weinstein’s conviction for rape at the beginning of the week, she was convinced that this would be a knockout punch, likely driving Bloomberg out of the race.

But unlike his response in the previous debate, he responded forcefully in denying the accusations, and none of the other candidates followed up. Warren also criticized Bloomberg for his purported support of redlining and for blaming the 2008 economic meltdown on African American and Latinx citizens. In all instances, the larger public is expected to take her at her word. Yet, Bloomberg’s overall performance was an improvement from his first debate.

However, a closer examination of Warren’s pregnancy discrimination claim against Bloomberg indicates that she has no indisputably hard evidence for it. Her own claim of pregnancy discrimination that she says caused her contract not to be renewed when she was a 21 year-old special education teacher was recently found to be untrue via a fact check.

Warren seems to be developing a pattern of exaggerating and/or lying about personal situations for political advantage. In this Me Too era, she is running amuck, and her attacks on Bloomberg flopped with the audience that expressed annoyance at these repeated, unconfirmed condemnations.

Despite the numerous anti-Bloomberg statements Warren has made, substituting her sincere, beatific demeanor for corroborating evidence, she has been unable to convince the public that they are true. Earlier Warren employed a similar tactic when she charged Bernie with telling her (in a private conversation) that a woman could not win the presidency. That contention fell flat with voters as did her decades’ long assertion that she had Native American heritage, which was also proven to be a lie.

Warren now appears to have pivoted, in the aftermath of her precipitous fall in state and national polls and her lackluster primary showngs, to auditioning to become Bernie’s vice presidential running mate. By ferociously confronting Bloomberg, she is showing Bernie that she will perform admirably as a reliable attack dog on the campaign trail.

Unlike the other Democratic candidates, Warren appears to have thrown in the towel on winning the nomination. She seems to be kissing Bernie’s behind in the hopes of staying in the game after she ends her current quest for the office of president as she has had to take out a $3million loan to keep her campaign up and running. Some have concluded that the two may have struck a deal in exchange for her muted criticism of his candidacy since she has not called Bernie out for the sexual harassment assertions that have roiled his political movement.

In a methodical way, Warren may be taking the route to the presidency chosen by Lyndon Baines Johnson, who agreed to be John F. Kennedy’s running mate in 1960 after losing in the primary. When he accepted Kennedy’s offer, a job which paled in comparison to his position as the all-powerful Democratic majority leader in the U.S. Senate, he was questioned by a close colleague as to why he would take a step back.

Johnson is said to have ruminated that since eight of the previous 35 vice presidents (nearly 25 percent) had succeeded to the presidency due to the natural death or assassination of their predecessor, it was worth the risk. Warren could be making a similar calculation, if she becomes Bernie’s VP. He will be 79 years-old if he is elected, and having had two heart attacks already, the odds are that he could not survive a full-term given the stress of the office.

Bernie wilted at times under the intense incoming fire during the debate, but he held his own despite the audience boos he received for the first time. Pete Buttigieg also took him to task for the massive expenditures of his campaign pledges. Amy Klobuchar said that Bernie’s philosophy is out of touch with the nation’s voters, while Tom Steyer tried to make his case for racial equality as he has invested millions in South Carolina raising him to third in the polls.

Joe Biden, whose campaign has been in a death rattle, had his best debate so far. He has always said that South Carolina was his political firewall, and his support among the state’s black voters remains strong, although slipping a bit. His Wednesday endorsement by Congressman Jim Clyburn, dean of South Carolina’s Democratic politics, has given him a major boost. Biden went after Bernie, Bloomberg, and Steyer every chance he got. If he does not win the primary decisively, his donors may still close their wallets.

But Biden’s most effective indictment of Bernie was his threat to primary President Barack Obama during his 2012 reelection bid. That revelation may have deeply wounded Bernie as he heads into the Saturday primary and beyond. With black voters making up 60 percent of South Carolina’s Democratic electorate, Bernie may lose traction within this group.

Nonetheless, the debate’s major beneficiary was Donald Trump. He has to be licking his chops seeing that his preferred opponent, Bernie Sanders, a Democratic socialist, is still on track to meet him in the presidential arena. His campaign operatives have already prepared TV, radio, and social media ads pointing out Bernie’s far left beliefs.

After Super Tuesday, Amy Klobuchar and Tom Steyer, likely Elizabeth Warren, and possibly Joe Biden, will likely drop out. Not one of the Democrats on the debate stage, with the exception of Bloomberg, has any chance of acquiring the necessary financial and organizational resources to defeat the sitting president. Advantage Trump!