“I consider myself too perfect and have no faults.”
— Donald Trump, on Twitter in 2014.
“I’ve never said I’m a perfect person, nor pretended to be someone that I’m not.”
— Trump, last night in his video apology.
Is Trump’s Campaign Over?
Politico: “It’s fitting that the election of Hillary Clinton as the first female president might have been sealed by Donald Trump’s treatment of women as subordinate, interchangeable, pliable playthings.”
“Trump — a compulsively public politician who has mouthed some of the most hilarious (intentionally or otherwise), offensive, fact-allergic and misogynistic statements by anyone competing in the public arena — might be ultimately undone by a private admission about a woman he wanted to have sex with.”
However, a Politico poll of GOP insiders finds that 54% think Trump can overcome these comments while 46% say his chances are doomed.
Flashback Quote of the Day
“People want me to run for president all the time … I don’t like it. Can you imagine how controversial I’d be? You think about Clinton and the women. How about me with the women? Can you imagine?”
— Donald Trump, quoted by the New York Post in 1999.
Trump’s Apology That Wasn’t
New York Times: “During a 90-second videotaped appearance, Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, offered a strikingly brief articulation of regret for a decade-old audiotape in which he boasted about grabbing women’s genitals and said he could have his way with women because of his fame.”
“But his real message, which appeared early Saturday, was one of defiance. He described the controversy that upended the Republican Party for most of Friday as a mere ‘distraction,’ and said that his vulgar remarks captured on the tape were nothing compared with the way Bill and Hillary Clinton had mistreated women.”
“If anything, Mr. Trump’s videotaped statement was a truncated version of a speech that he had given countless times. And it did not reflect the several hours of conference calls and strategy meetings among his top aides, who were at first stunned and then nearly paralyzed by the revelation of the tape, which they worried would be fatal to his White House hopes.”
Lee Urges Trump to Quit
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), “one of very few Republican senators who never endorsed Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, called tonight for the nominee to ‘step aside’ and asked conservatives to find a new candidate,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Lee: “Your conduct, sir, is the distraction. It’s the distraction from the very principles that will help us win in November. You yourself, sir, Mr. Trump, have stated repeatedly that the goal, the objective, has got to be to defeat Hillary Clinton in November. I couldn’t agree more. Mr. Trump, I respectfully ask you, with all due respect to step aside. Step down. Allow someone else to carry the banner of these principles.”
Job Hunt Was a Big Part of Bayh’s Last Year
“Evan Bayh spent substantial time during his last year in the Senate searching for a job in the private sector, even as he cast votes on issues of interest to his future corporate bosses, according to the former Indiana lawmaker’s 2010 schedule,” obtained exclusively by the Associated Press.
“A 2007 law requires senators to file a disclosure with the secretary of the Senate within three days of beginning negotiations for private-sector employment. But after the law went into effect, the Senate Ethics Committee defined negotiations as employment discussions that occur after a job offer has been made.”
Coffman Says Trump Should Step Aside
Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO) has broken from his party’s ranks and has said that Donald Trump should “step aside,” according to CBS Denver.
Said Coffman: “For the good of the country, and to give the Republicans a chance of defeating Hillary Clinton, Mr. Trump should step aside. His defeat at this point seems almost certain. And four years of Hillary Clinton is not what is best for this country. Mr. Trump should put the country first and do the right thing.”
Chaffetz Pulls Endorsement of Trump
Rep. Jason Chaffetz told KSTU that he is withdrawing his support for Donald Trump after a video surfaced showing the Republican candidate for president making vulgar remarks in 2005 about touching and kissing women without their consent.
Said Chaffetz: “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.”
GOP Can Only Replace Trump If He Quits
Huffington Post: “Just a few pages into the Republican National Committee rulebook is some good news for officials horrified by Donald Trump’s latest meltdown: It’s not too late to replace him on the November ballot.”
“Now the bad news: Trump would have to quit on his own. His official nomination last month in Cleveland leaves the party no way to remove him.”
Ryan Scraps Appearance with Trump
Speaker Paul Ryan said that he was “sickened” by Donald Trump’s lewd comments about women, and announced that the GOP nominee would no longer campaign with him in Wisconsin on Saturday, Politico reports.
“The speaker did not, however, comment on whether he still supports Trump for the presidency.”
Trump Tried to Have Woman Who Rebuffed Him Fired
“Less than two years after a female journalist supposedly rebuffed Donald Trump’s sexual advances—as heard on newly discovered video—he allegedly tried to have her fired from one of his beauty pageants,” the Daily Beast reports.
“That married woman (identified as ‘Nancy’ by Trump) was subsequently identified by Access Hollywood as former host Nancy O’Dell during the show’s Friday night episode.”
“Trump interacted with O’Dell, who now works on Entertainment Tonight, in her side-gig as a host at Trump beauty pageants… In 2007, TMZ reported that the real-estate mogul wanted to kick O’Dell to the curb as Miss USA host because he allegedly didn’t like the way she looked while she was several months pregnant.”
Huntsman Calls on Trump to Quit Race
“One week after explaining why he planned to vote for Donald Trump, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman said it is time for the Republican nominee to drop out of the race and allow vice presidential nominee Mike Pence to represent the party,” the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
State Poll Roundup: Friday
Here are the latest state polls from the presidential race:
Virginia: Clinton 46%, Trump 34% (Hampton University)
Florida: Clinton 47%, Trump 45%, Johnson 2% (Gravis)
Wisconsin: Clinton 48%, Trump 40%, Johnson 4% (Gravis)
Pence Won’t Answer Questions About Trump Tape
“Mike Pence took the stage here just over an hour after a tape emerged of Donald Trump crudely bragging about sexually harassing women and pretended as though no such tape existed,” Politico reports.
“And then, confronted by multiple reporters on the rope line after the speech, he simply ignored repeated questions about his reaction to the tape.”
WikiLeaks Releases Transcripts of Clinton Speeches
“Excerpts from Hillary Clinton’s closed-door paid speeches, including to financial firms, appeared to be made public for the first time on Friday when WikiLeaks published thousands of hacked emails from her campaign chairman,” BuzzFeed reports.
“The speech transcripts, a major subject of contention during the Democratic primary, include quotes from Clinton about her distance from middle-class life (‘I’m kind of far removed’); her vision of strategic governing (‘you need both a public and a private position’); and her views on Wall Street, health care, and trade policy (‘my dream is a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders’).”
Trump’s Lewd Conversation Caught on Hot Mic
“Donald Trump bragged in vulgar terms about kissing, groping and trying to have sex with women during a 2005 conversation caught on a hot microphone — saying that ‘when you’re a star, they let you do it,'” — according to a video obtained by the Washington Post.
The conversation was with Billy Bush of “Access Hollywood” in which Trump describes an attempt to seduce a married woman.
The video is worth watching, but here’s a brief excerpt:
TRUMP: “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything.”
BUSH: “Whatever you want?”
TRUMP: “Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.”
Trump responded in a statement: “This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course – not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended.”
Woman Claims Trump Tried to Rape Her
“A woman at the center of sexual assault allegations against Donald Trump has spoken for the first time in detail about her personal experience with the billionaire tycoon who this week became the Republican nominee for president,” The Guardian reports.
“Jill Harth, a makeup artist, has stayed quiet for almost 20 years about the way Trump pursued her, and – according to a lawsuit she instigated – cornered her and groped her in his daughter’s bedroom.”
‘I Would Bomb the Shit Out of ’Em’
Hillary Clinton’s latest ad doesn’t get any more direct than this: Donald Trump can’t be trusted with nuclear weapons.
