I didn't watch the entire thing because I was channel-surfing, but I have to say I thought this was a pretty decent analysis from ABC. So what happened here? Let's review...
Everyone with a scintilla of political savvy already knows who Trump is and what he stands for. I watched the vaunted "Undecideds" being interviewed (Tell me, who is still undecided 4 days before an election?) and they all were torn between the RINOs, not Trump-Cruz. That ship sailed well before today.
IMO, not only did Trump dodge the planned ambush (Can you imagine what videos they would have shown of him? What about the Muslim gal's questions?), but he put on a highly positive event of his own. Word will go out that he raised millions for Vets and they gave him an "honor ring." Pictures of a grateful, upbeat crowd with Santorum and Huckabee in the audience will remain the images that will stick in people's minds.
In addition, people are going to remember that Trump didn't back down under pressure and only solidified, rightly or wrongly, his reputation as a fighter.
The pundits will ruminate on this thing all day tomorrow and Rush will dissect it from top to bottom, but by Saturday it will all be yesterday's news. The weekend will be full of NEW stories of NEW Trump rallies with thousands of cheering people standing in the cold because they all want to help Make America Great Again.
The Teflon Don's business sense in action. He made a well-calculated gamble and threw the dice, and my sense is he came up snake eyes. Or, as one FReeper put it, "Fox News was playing Checkers, Donald Trump was playing Chess."