GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump's
almost hour-long speech and press conference Tuesday night kept viewers riveted, Fox News analysts said afterward, with the network's digital editor Chris Stirewalt comparing part of the speech to a "ShamWow" routine.
Trump touted his own brand of bottled water, wine and steaks, among other products, bringing samples onstage. He was responding to 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney's speech last week in which he called Trump a failed businessman, saying that many of his businesses had not been as successful as Trump claims.
"Any question in the mind of Donald Trump's rivals about how to get his goat: Talk about his businesses," Stirewalt said in post-election coverage.
Trump's Republican detractors won't beat him talking about "his conservative apostasies," Stirewalt said, "but obviously it gets under his skin and does the ShamWow routine stuff out there."
Fox media reporter Howard Kurtz called the speech, "Part political speech, part Home Shopping Network," and also an attempt to keep the news media's attention.
But with a couple of losses over the weekend, many were wondering if Trump's momentum had peaked. "Was the act wearing thin? Victories in Michigan and Mississippi show that the answer is, hell no," he said.
Charles Krauthammer, whom Trump mentioned in the speech, said, "I don't think I've seen such a stream of disconnected ideas since I quit psychiatry 30 years ago."
Part of Trump's speech was performance, but he also outlined what he would do as president, Krauthammer said, and he successfully pulled it off.
"Now, in the end I think that's going to be really dangerous because he often can go off the reservation, compares himself to what was Abe Lincoln, number two, how presidential he is," he said. "That's a little bit weird. … I think people have a sense of humor about him, which is good. Otherwise they'd be terrified."
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