Cavalier Donald Trump self-destructs after lewd remarks about women surfaces

WASHINGTON: Even going by his reputation for lewd expression and lascivious intent, the on-camera remarks are vulgar, grating, and repulsive. In the three-minute tape, Donald Trump is boasting about how he hits on women and how they let him do it because of his celebrity status.
"I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait," he brags."And when you’re a star they let you do it..."
"Whatever you want…" says an off-camera voice in the Access Hollywood segment hosted ten years ago by TV personality Billy Bush, a nephew of the 41st President and cousin of the 43rd.
"Grab them by the p---y," Trump says, using a slang for female genitalia. "You can do anything."
He also relates how one time he moved on a married woman and failed. "I’ll admit it. I did try and f*** her. She was married," Trump says in the recording that NBC, parent company of Access Hollywood unearthed and posted along with Washington Post, relating how he took her out furniture shopping in an effort to seduce her.
"Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look," he adds, with all the panache of a testosterone-y sophomore. Trump was in his late 50s and married a third time at that time.
The remarks, crass and explicit, exploded on the political scene with gale force that virtually overshadowed the Category Three Hurricane Matthew, sending Republicans scurrying for cover. Many GOP stalwarts condemned the remarks, some disassociated themselves from Trump, and some even asked him to drop out of the race even at this late moment.
Party leaders despaired that the disclosures may have irrevocably damaged not just Trump’s prospects in the Presidential election but the GOP itself, even as liberals on social media went to town, dubbing the party as "Grabbers of P...y."
Trump initially tried to brazen it out saying it was a "locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago," (although it was on tape) and apologizing "if anyone was offended." But since it seemed everyone was offended, including his own supporters, he was forced to come out with a lengthier apology in the wee hours of Saturday even as the Republican Party turned on him furiously.
"I've never said I'm a perfect person, nor pretended to be someone I'm not. I've said and done things I regret, and the words released today on this more than a decade-old video are one of them," he said in a more elaborate, but still qualified mea culpa. "Anyone who knows me, knows these words don't reflect who I am. I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize."
He then went on to claim he has changed while traveling the country during the election campaign. "I have gotten to know the great people of our country, and I have been humbled by the faith they have placed in me. I pledge to be a better man tomorrow, and will never, ever let you down," he promised.
But even in his hour of humiliation, he turned on the Clintons, calling the controversy a distraction. "Bill Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed, and intimidated his victims," he said, suggesting that he will raise this if his womanizing becomes an issue in Sunday’s presidential debate on Sunday.
Clinton meanwhile tweeted: "This is horrific. We cannot allow this man to become president."
The Trump tape also overshadowed release by Wikileaks of a new trove of emails hacked from the Clinton campaign showing the Democratic candidate’s aides flagging concerns over her paid speeches to Wall Street. They quickly became a footnote to the Trump titillation.
While women across the country, even Trump supporters, expressed revulsion at the billionaire’s cavalier attitude towards women, the Republican leadership, after being kicked around by a Trump surcharged by his grassroots support, slammed down on him. House Speaker Paul Ryan virtually disinvited him from a joint event over the weekend with Party Chairman Reince Priebus.
Many Republican grandees who had been humiliated by Trump took it out on the fallen candidate.
The so-called liberal media, led by Washington Post, which broke the story, and the New York Times, which has taken a strong stand against him, hammered him.
An NYT editorial was headlined "The Sleaziness of Donald Trump" and an OpEd called him "Groper in Chief"
Some political operatives declared the election was as good as over, but Trump has shown remarkable resilience in tiding over adverse situations. "We’re electing a leader, not a Sunday school teacher," a Trump aide said, making light of the disclosures.
Who said what
House Speaker Paul Ryan: “I am sickened by what I heard today. Women are to be championed and revered, not objectified. I hope Mr. Trump treats this situation with the seriousness it deserves and works to demonstrate to the country that he has greater respect for women than this clip suggests. In the meantime, he is no longer attending tomorrow's event in Wisconsin.”
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus: "No woman should ever be described in these terms or talked about in this manner. Ever,"
Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz, who withdrew his endorsement of Trump: “I’m out. I can no longer in good conscience endorse this person for president. It is some of the most abhorrent and offensive comments that you can possibly imagine,”
Former presidential candidate Jeb Bush: "As the grandfather of two precious girls, I find that no apology can excuse away Donald Trump's reprehensible comments degrading women."
Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee: "Hitting on married women? Condoning assault? Such vile degradations demean our wives and daughters and corrupt America's face to the world."