All three networks stuck with Donald Trump's long press conference even as it veered into sales pitches for his own product lines. | AP Photo Trump infomercial captivates networks CNN, Fox, and MSNBC choose billionaire's rambling sales pitch over Clinton and Kasich speeches. 
 
 Millions of viewers tuned into to cable news networks during the prime 9 p.m. EST hour likely expecting to hear some candidate speeches. What they got, on CNN, Fox, and MSNBC, was one candidate talking for 45 minutes: Donald Trump. 
 
 All three networks stuck with Trump's long press conference even as it veered into sales pitches for his own product lines, despite the fact that Hillary Clinton, who had won the Mississippi primary in a landslide and was neck-and-neck in Michigan, spoke at the same time. They also mostly ignored Bernie Sanders' speech, which occurred in the 8 p.m. hour and John Kasich's speech, which happened during Trump's event. 
 
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 Only MSNBC ran Clinton’s speech in its entirety after Trump finished. And neither Sanders, Kasich, nor any of the other candidates got anything more than snippets of air time. 
 
 That sparked an instant flutter of complaints on Twitter, and revived an uncomfortable issue: Did the networks, knowing that the often-unpredictable and blustery Trump draws a bigger audience, go with the better draw rather than cover the full political landscape? 
 
 "C'mon networks! How is this fair broadcasting?" tweeted former Michigan governor and Clinton surrogate Jennifer Granholm. 
 
 "I hope the Trump speech lasts another 4 hours and I hope the Cable networks will carry it all, because there is obviously no news judgment," wrote former NPR political editor Ken Rudin. 
 
 The networks’ decision was all the more noteworthy because it validated a strategic decision by the Trump campaign to forgo the usual primary-night thank yous in favor of a lengthy, presidential-style press conference — a tactic he’s used on the two previous election nights. 
 
 Forty five minutes of uninterrupted TV time on the three cable news networks is the equivalent of millions of dollars in free media for a campaign — a stunning amount of TV time. 
 
 "[I] do think Hillary should have gotten attention," said Frank Sesno, former CNN Washington Bureau Chief and current director of the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs. "She is running for president too, in case anyone failed to notice. It just shows that Donald Trump continues to enthrall and dominate attention, headlines and airtime." 
 
 "Whether networks chose to split their screens or play the speeches sequentially, it is odd political news judgment to cover one leading candidate and not the other if that's really what happened," he added. 
 
 Mo Elleithee, director of the Georgetown Institute of Politics, put it this way: "Trump is catnip to the networks, and they stuck with his rambling, incoherent infomercial. That's dangerous for his opponents. How do you ensure that your substantive case breaks through when you're running against the king of entertainment politics?" 
 
 Added Elleithee, a former communications director for the Democratic National Committee: "I think it shows that Democrats are going to face the same challenge in the fall that Republicans did in the primaries.” 
 
 What struck many critics like Elleithee was that Trump wasn’t even making much news. He was mostly just riffing. He took questions from reporters but also veered into long digressions touting his wines, steaks, golf courses, and even his water. 
 
 It was a typically colorful and unpredictable Trump event. But as Business Insider columnist Josh Barro noted on Twitter, Trump’s penchant for making amusing or contentious statements has given him a higher news (read: ratings) value. 
 
 "Trump is taking questions. Clinton will give the same speech she always does. Trump event has higher news value," he wrote. 
 
 And in the valuable primetime hours, if a cable network dropped Trump during that raucous press conference to go to a Clinton stump speech, they likely would've lost viewers as well. 
 
 Network spokespeople did not respond to emailed questions on Tuesday night. But on Twitter, CNNMoney and CNNPolitics Vice President Ed O’Keefe suggested that Clinton could have waited until Trump was finished; he speculated that she may have wanted to be pre-empted, given the unexpectedly close race in Michigan, which she ultimately lost. 
 
 "Might be her preference given margin in #MichiganPrimary," O'Keefe tweeted in response to a tweet about the networks skipping Clinton. 
 
 CNN and Fox News eventually played clips of Clinton's speech later on Tuesday night. 
 
 But it's still notable that none of the three cable networks chose even to mention that Clinton was speaking before cutting back to Trump. As Trump himself has noted, the attention he gets from the networks is likely the equivalent of millions in free airtime. 
 
 "It's not democracy. It's television," tweeted Time Washington bureau chief Michael Scherer, while also questioning why the Clinton campaign had her go out while Trump was still on. ||||| Trump tries to salvage the brand The Republican nominee ditches the campaign trail to hawk his new hotel and to talk up his executive credentials. 
 
 With 13 days until Election Day, Donald Trump tried Wednesday morning to simultaneously burnish his business and political brands, both of which are badly tarnished. 
 
 Drawing more than 200 members of the media to his opulent new Washington, D.C., hotel for an “official opening” that comes more than a month after the property opened to the public, Trump framed the renovated downtown post office as a testament to his abilities as an executive. 
 
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 “My theme today is five words: under budget and ahead of schedule,” Trump said (using six words). 
 
 Trump, who political forecasters now give just a 10 percent chance of winning the presidential election, is in a last-ditch fight to resuscitate his campaign and a business brand that has suffered from his presidential run. As Trump and his offspring lavished praise on themselves for completing the project, rooms at the hotel were being offered at $404 a night online, a discount of roughly 50 percent. 
 
 “Today is a metaphor for what we can accomplish for this country, the same kind of thing,” Trump said Wednesday morning. “I’m tired of the excuses from our politicians. I’m tired of being told what cannot be done. I’m tired of people asking Americans to defer their dreams to another day but really what they mean is another decade. We can achieve our dreams for this country and we can do so more quickly than anyone ever thought possible. There is nothing we cannot accomplish." 
 
 Eschewing the angry bombast and vitriolic attacks that define his rally speeches, Trump stood on a dais inside a packed ballroom agleam in gilded mirrors and crystal chandeliers and sought to strike a tone so uplifting and aspirational that it seemed a betrayal of his own campaign’s motto to make the country “great again.” 
 
 “The United States is great. It’s great. Its people are great. There is no task or project too great. There is no dream outside of our reach. Don’t ever let anyone tell you it cannot be done,” he continued, diverging somewhat from his campaign’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. “The future lies with the dreamers, not the cynics and the critics. Everywhere I go in this country, all I see is untapped potential waiting to be set free, and the biggest element of all is our incredible people.” 
 
 Trump’s decision to attend a ribbon-cutting at his D.C. hotel raised eyebrows, with the candidate’s time at a premium in the final stretch of a presidential race that, by his own admission, he is currently losing. He told the crowd he was heading straight to North Carolina following the ceremony in the hotel’s grand lobby, seemingly in recognition of complaints that the morning photo op seemed more about his personal brand than his campaign, which has sunk over the past week beneath the weight of myriad allegations of sexual assault. 
 
 Speaking to CNN’s Dana Bash in the lobby, Trump became testy when asked why he’s taking time out of his swing-state tour to hawk his hotel. 
 
 “I did yesterday eight stops and three major speeches, and I've been doing this for weeks straight. I left there for an hour and a half. I'm going to North Carolina right now and then to Florida, then up to New Hampshire,” Trump said flatly. “For you to ask me that question is actually very insulting, because Hillary Clinton does one stop and then goes home and sleeps, yet you'll ask me that question. I think it's a very rude question, to be honest with you.” 
 
 To any observer, the final stretch of Trump’s campaign is taking the form of an infomercial — a nightly Facebook Live “newscast” featuring Trump surrogates and staff launched on Monday — that is selling a product as much as it is a candidate and blurring the lines that delineate official campaign business and activities like never before. The appearance at the downtown Washington hotel, which came a day after a campaign event at his Trump National Doral Miami golf resort in Florida, was the fourth one Trump has made as a presidential candidate. 
 
 Trump's retreat within his newest gilded temple actually began Tuesday evening, shortly after his flight from Tallahassee landed in Washington. As campaign manager Kellyanne Conway was holding court in the hotel lobby, going from table to table speaking with guests, the bells in the post office's old bell tower rang loudly, taking waiters and bartenders by surprise. The unexpected fanfare — the Congress Bells, a Bicentennial gift from England, had not rung since 2006 — soon made sense, as Trump entered the room with his sons, acting out a dramatic tableau seemingly to remind himself of his own success. 
 
 The ribbon-cutting had been billed specifically as a non-campaign event, even though it was listed on Trump’s campaign website. His campaign staff and advisers — including Conway, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and former "Apprentice" contestant Omarosa Manigault — were in attendance at a news conference beforehand in the hotel’s presidential ballroom. The wireless password provided to reporters was “trump2016,” and an eight-page, color-photo pamphlet handed out at the event focused entirely on the hotel and made no mention of its owner’s White House bid. 
 
 While Trump was in Washington, D.C., his running mate, Mike Pence, was campaigning Wednesday in Nevada, a battleground state, and Utah, one of the country’s most reliably red states, where Trump has admitted that he is “having a tremendous problem.” Hillary Clinton, who has begun devoting more and more of her time on the campaign trail to boosting down-ballot Democrats, took the opportunity Wednesday morning to draw a contrast with Trump’s self-promotional show and to emphasize the hypocrisy of his anti-trade, “America first” message. 
 
 As she wound down her speech in Lake Worth, Florida, Clinton noted Trump’s appearance in Washington “to open a new luxury hotel.” Trump, she claimed, “relied on undocumented workers to make his project cheaper.” 
 
 “Most of the products in the rooms were made overseas, and he even sued to get his taxes lowered,” she continued, informing the crowd that at her next rally — in Tampa — she’d be appearing with José Andrés, the chef who pulled his restaurant venture from Trump’s Washington hotel in response to his caustic comments about Mexican immigrants at the start of his campaign last year. 
 
 Trump’s team has billed the project as evidence of Trump’s business acumen, with Conway remarking that “his under-budget, ahead-of-schedule hotel” would show the “the tangible accomplishments of Donald Trump.” Speaking to reporters before the event, Gingrich said anyone concerned that Trump’s visit to his Washington property was a distraction was missing the point. 
 
 “That's because they don't understand the message: It's under budget and ahead of schedule,” he said, repeating an apparent talking point for Trump surrogates. “That's a very important message because it means nothing in the current bureaucratic government tells you what a Trump administration would be like.” 
 
 But whether or not the hotel did in fact arrive ahead of schedule remains an open question. While signs on scaffolding outside the building billed the hotel as “coming 2016,” a news release from February 2014 for the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago said the Washington hotel was supposed to open in late 2015. 
 
 A modest but persistent protest outside the hotel, illustrative of how the property is seemingly attracting as many gawkers as it has paying customers, grew steadily as the event drew closer, with the crowd numbering roughly 150 by the time the event was set to begin. The protesters marched in a large circle, chanting, "What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now." 
 
 Taking the stage before her father, Ivanka Trump acknowledged the launch of a new brand, Scion, the corporation’s initial attempt to downplay the "Trump" brand that has always been definitional. She lauded her father but also credited others involved in the hotel’s development, including Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington, D.C.'s, congressional delegate and a Democrat. Norton supported the launch of the Pennsylvania Avenue project but did not attend Wednesday’s event. 
 
 Ivanka Trump was the only one of Trump's four children present to speak, and her remarks were also an effort in self-preservation and the salvaging of a personal brand as a successful and nonpartisan female entrepreneur after a campaign that she described as “one of the most interesting journeys of my life.” 
 
 In praising her father, she spoke of the countless Trump employees who have remained loyal over the years and support his latest venture. But in describing her father's vision when it comes to restoring old buildings, she also seemed to be imploring a broader electorate that largely views him unfavorably to see him differently. 
 
 “My father trained my siblings and me not to see things for what they are," she said. "But for what they could be.” 
 
 Gabe Debenedetti contributed reporting from Lake Worth, Florida. ||||| Talk about building them up to knock them down. 
 
 With his red sweater and earnest questions about energy policy at the Clinton/Trump town hall debate, Kenneth Bone quickly became a shorthand for all that is right about American democracy: mutual respect, caring about the issues, and the truly unifying power of a pun on the word “bone.” 
 
 While cable news networks quibbled about whether Clinton or Trump had won the debate, the internet knew who the true winner was, and everyone wanted to be in the #bonezone. 
 
 Kenneth spent most of this week touring TV studios, packing in a schedule of public appearances of which any political commentator would be envious. He’s even slated to be one of the guests on a special live edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live! airing after the third presidential debate. 
 
 Now that guest slot—and his reputation overall—may be in jeopardy. 
 
 The first rumblings of discontent came when Ken started cashing in on his newfound fame (as any of us would, really), posting an illegal ad for Uber’s luxury car service Uber Select on Twitter on Thursday (his following on the social-media network has skyrocketed from seven, two of which were his grandma, to 237,000 and climbing.) 
 
 Ken’s de-beatification was made complete, however, after he was invited to host an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit. 
 
 The wheels fell off the Bone-mobile as Ken unwisely used the same alias in the AMA that he had used to make a variety of decidedly less than wholesome remarks over the past few years. 
 
 Here, for example, is Ken weighing in on the hacked nude Jennifer Lawrence pictures: 
 
 “Maybe she should have been more careful with her pics, but the bad guys are still the ones who sought them out and looked at them. By which I mean guys like me. I saw her butt hole. I liked it.” 
 
 That’s so gross that you can almost imagine Donald Trump saying it. Lawrence herself has said of the stolen images, “Anybody who looked at those pictures, you’re perpetuating a sexual offense. You should cower with shame.” 
 
 It turns out that Bone was a regular participant in several NSFW forums, including one devoted to pregnant women in swimsuits, who he referred to as “beautiful human submarines.” 
 
 Get The Beast In Your Inbox! Daily Digest Start and finish your day with the top stories from The Daily Beast. Cheat Sheet A speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don't). By clicking “Subscribe,” you agree to have read the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Subscribe Thank You! You are now subscribed to the Daily Digest and Cheat Sheet. We will not share your email with anyone for any reason. 
 
 He even admitted to committing “felony insurance fraud”: 
 
 Most damaging of all, he suggested the killing of Trayvon Martin was “legally justified”—however we should note that Bone did go on to add that George Zimmerman, who was acquitted in the killing of the unarmed teenager on the basis of Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground law, was a “big ole shit bird.” 
 
 “Bad guy legally kills kid in self defence,” he wrote. “Sucks for everybody, including us due to media fuckery.” 
 
 Will this election cycle drain the good out of everything? ||||| So you thought it was bad last time, when Fox News tried to put you under the table with two consecutive GOP debates lasting four full hours. 
 
 Well, CNN is here to test your resolve. Two debates. 16 candidates. FIVE hours. 
 
 At least there are commercial breaks for much needed relief. Before we get going, the usual disclaimers: Don’t actually play this drinking game. You will drink too much, and that is bad. Also don’t drink if you are underage. And never drink and drive. 
 
 With all that said, here is TIME’s guide to drink watching the second set of Republican GOP debates on CNN, starting at 6 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, 3 p.m. Pacific. 
 
 Politics Newsletter Sign up to receive the day’s top political stories. View Sample Sign Up Now 
 
 • Pound a Miller High Life when Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker pledges to wreak havoc on D.C. 
 
 • Throw the High Life against a wall if Walker refuses to answer a question because it is “hypothetical.” 
 
 • Drink a tin bottle of Bud Light if Florida Sen. Marco Rubio mentions football. 
 
 • Drink two tinnies if New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie mentions the Dallas Cowboys. 
 
 • Headstand a Sam Adams if someone says Tom Brady did not cheat. 
 
 • Hydrate with water and/or salt tablets each time Donald Trump mentions his terrific crowds, his terrific polls, how smart he is, or any other tremendous personal success. 
 
 • Sip expensive champagne if Trump tangles with moderator Hugh Hewitt over the name of a Hamas, Hezbollah, Syrian or Iraqi military leader. 
 
 MORE: Read the Full Text of the First Republican Debate 
 
 • Put your thumb over the top of the bottle and shake if Trump speaks cogently about who that person is. 
 
 • Drink non-alcoholic punch if Kentucky clerk Kim Davis is called a hero. 
 
 • Polish off the Listerine if a candidate offers to go to jail in her place. 
 
 • Read aloud from Deuteronomy if CNN moderator Jake Tapper asks Trump his favorite Bible verse. 
 
 • Throw popcorn at the screen if Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Christie start arguing again. 
 
 • Purchase and finish a cup of coffee if Trump calls former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush low-energy. 
 
 • Rub AXIRON, the prescription-only testosterone gel, under your arm if Bush gets into an Alpha contest with Trump and wins, and you happen to be man. (Beware AXIRON can transfer from your body to others, so don’t rub against young children or women after application.) 
 
 Take a sip for each of the following: 
 
 • Carson closes his eyes before answering a question 
 
 • Any candidate mentions an endorsement 
 
 • Someone other than Trump says “YOOOOGE” 
 
 • Any candidate mentions their father (Two sips if Bush) 
 
 • Rubio talks about the American dream 
 
 • Any candidate says “shutdown” 
 
 • Any candidate mentions online donations 
 
 • Anyone praises the pope 
 
 • Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina says the word “face” 
 
 • South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham calls himself Lindsey Grahamnesty or Lindsey Gomez 
 
 • Alguna persona habla en español 
 
 • Christie calls something stupid 
 
 • Paul mentions a founding father 
 
 • Paul talks out of turn 
 
 • Any candidate praises former Texas Gov. Rick Perry 
 
 • Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says “Obama” 
 
 • Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum calls out the Supreme Court 
 
 • Any candidate talks about monetary policy 
 
 • Ohio Gov. John Kasich cuts against the grain ||||| Washington (CNN) If it was New Year's Eve, they could have spent $888 per head on a tasting menu. But instead, President-elect Donald Trump met potential secretary of state nominee Mitt Romney Tuesday at Jean Georges, a three-Michelin star New York City restaurant inside his Trump International Hotel. 
 
 Instead of being joined by their wives, which was the original expectation, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus was their only other guest. He was tapped by Trump to become his chief of staff when he enters the White House in January. 
 
 The three men ordered a young garlic soup with thyme and sautéed frog legs, and diver scallops with caramelized cauliflower and caper-raisin emulsion as appetizers, according to a readout to reporters. 
 
 Priebus and Trump ordered a prime sirloin with citrus glazed carrots for their main course and Romney ordered lamb chops with a mushroom bolognese sauce. All three of the men had a chocolate cake for dessert. 
 
 CNN asked Trump after the dinner if Romney will be the next secretary of state, to which he responded, "Well, we're going to see what happens." 
 
 And Romney addressed reporters in the lobby about the dinner, where he said he had a "wonderful evening" with Trump. 
 
 "We had another discussion about affairs throughout the world and these discussions I have had with him have been enlightening and interesting and engaging. I have enjoyed them very, very much," he said. 
 
 He added: "By the way, it's not easy winning. I know that myself. He did something I tried to do and was unsuccessful in accomplishing. He won the general election. And he continues with a message of inclusion and bringing people together and his vision is something which obviously connected with the American people in a very powerful way." 
 
 Despite their rocky past, Trump and Romney didn't show any animosity whatsoever between each other, as servers dressed in neckties and vests carried out their duties. The three men appeared animated and smiling, as seen by a CNN reporter also in the dining room. 
 
 Fresh marshmallows are prepared as Trump, Romney and Priebus dine. pic.twitter.com/JI5KvPgnLT — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 30, 2016 
 
 The fight between Romney, the Republican Party's 2012 nominee, and Trump was nasty and personal. 
 
 After Romney said he didn't expect Trump to win the GOP nomination and called some of the real estate mogul's past comments "childish in some respects," Trump tweeted: ".@MittRomney can only speak negatively about my presidential chances because I have been openly hard on his terrible "choke" loss to Obama!" 
 
 .@MittRomney can only speak negatively about my presidential chances because I have been openly hard on his terrible "choke" loss to Obama! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2015 
 
 Trump fired back, saying that he could have forced Romney to his knees in 2012 when Romney sought his endorsement. 
 
 "He was begging for my endorsement. I could have said, 'Mitt, drop to your knees' -- he would have dropped to his knees," Trump said. 
 
 Romney's speech sparked a furious back-and-forth that only ended after the election when, in a stunning turn, the two met to discuss Romney becoming secretary of state. Since that meeting, conservative backers of Trump have been openly bashing Romney, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Conway: Base supporters angry about Romney Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Conway: Base supporters angry about Romney 01:18 
 
 On Sunday, Priebus downplayed any fighting behind the scenes, suggesting that picking Romney would make for a good "team of rivals" for Trump. 
 
 "He's going to be making the best decision for the American people. It isn't a matter of warfare. I mean, there's a lot of opinions about this and, yes, it is sort of a 'team of rivals' concept if you were to go towards the Gov. Romney concept," Priebus said on "Fox News Sunday." 
 
 Romney has also stirred up emotions among Trump aides. Kellyanne Conway, a top Trump adviser, first opened a window on the infighting in Trump's transition over who should win the powerful role as the nation's top diplomat, when she tweeted on Thanksgiving about concerns with Romney 
 
 "Receiving deluge of social media & private comms re: Romney Some Trump loyalists warn against Romney as sec of state," she tweeted, including a link to a Politico story. 
 
 Receiving deluge of social media & private comms re: Romney Some Trump loyalists warn against Romney as sec of state https://t.co/HDtpjeJTc3 — Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) November 24, 2016 
 
 Romney has been scrapping behind the scenes with Rudy Giuliani for the post, although alternative options have emerged, including former Gen. David Petraeus and Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker. 
 
 Conway told CNN's Dana Bash Sunday on "State of the Union" that much of the anger, which has boiled over in public, stems from the personal attacks Romney lobbed at him. 
 
 "There was the Never Trump movement and then there was Mitt Romney he gave speeches against Donald Trump, he attacked his character," Conway said. 
 
 A source in Trump's campaign told CNN that Trump was "irritated" with Conway's public campaign against Romney's potential nomination for the position.
– On the heels of his Mississippi and Michigan wins, Donald Trump on Tuesday held a 45-minute press conference from the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Fla., and that was far from the only Trump brand on display. The candidate was last week dinged by Mitt Romney over ventures like Trump University, Trump Airlines, Trump Vodka, Trump Magazine, and Trump Steaks, reports NBC News. ("A business genius he is not," is how Romney put it.) And so Trump did his best to counter that claim, trotting out his steaks ("if you want to take one we'll charge 50 bucks a steak," he said), his magazine (a copy was lobbed into the crowd, notes TPM), his water, and his wine (from the "largest winery on the East Coast"). As RealClearPolitics national political reporter, Caitlin Huey-Burns—and many others—put it, "This is like Trump QVC." But not all digs were aimed at Trump. "I hope the Trump speech lasts another 4 hours and I hope the Cable networks will carry it all, because there is obviously no news judgment," former NPR political editor Ken Rudin tweeted, as spotted by Politico. Politico points out that CNN, Fox, and MSNBC carried the entirety of Trump's press conference even though Hillary Clinton and John Kasich spoke during the 9pm ET hour. And as far as mocking goes, Trump didn't just take it, he dished it. At one point, NBC News reporter Peter Alexander asked the candidate about how parents should explain his language to their kids. Trump's reply, per Gawker: "Oh, you’re so politically correct. You’re so beautiful. Oh, look at you. Awwww. Aw, he’s so. Oh, I know. You’ve never heard a little bad, a little off, language. I know, you’re so perfect. Aren’t you perfect. Aren’t you just a perfect young man. Give me a break. You know what? It’s stuff like that that people in this country are tired of. It’s stuff like that." So how are those no-longer-available Trump Steaks? Archived, and not too kind, reviews here.