But, with 5 little words, "because you'd be in jail", Trump managed to shift the media cycle to the debate performance and away from his "lewd comments" made 11 years ago.

Trump came into the debate with nothing to lose and, as such, was aggressive throughout the night with numerous sarcastic interruptions of Hillary and the moderators.  You could say that the "let Trump be Trump" strategy was back in full force and it was effective.  As The Hill pointed out, the prime exchange that drew the most reaction from viewers came when Trump promised to seek a special prosecutor, if he were elected, to probe Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of State.