It’s Donald Trump’s 47 percent moment. Only it’s worse, because women make up more than 50 percent of the electorate.
Trump bragged in vulgar terms about kissing, groping and attempting to seduce married women in a 2005 interview with entertainment reporter Billy Bush, uncovered by the Washington Post.
In the recording you can hear the nearly 60 year old Trump say about women:
“I’m automatically attracted to beautiful women, 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. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.”
And he wasn’t done.
The trice married Trump described how he had recently attempted to seduce a married woman.
“I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there, and she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything.”
He also said, “I’ve got to use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her,” referring to actress Arianne Zucker who was waiting to escort him into the NBC building.
It is a reminder of a moment four years ago when Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was caught on tape saying almost 47 percent of Americans were dependent on government, and he wouldn’t try to get their vote. Most strategists, including Republicans privately, admitted Romney never recovered from the image he didn’t care about half of the electorate.
In Trump’s case, he needs white women in battleground states to support him if he has any chance of winning. This may be the moment history recalls that Trump lost his election.
In response to his comments, Trump said it was “locker room banter”and compared himself to Bill Clinton. “I apologize if anyone was offended,” the short statement said.
He’s going to have to do a lot more apologizing than that.
Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, said late Thursday: “No woman should ever be described in those terms or talked about in this manner. Ever.”
Hillary Clinton responded on twitter:
This is horrific. We cannot allow this man to become president. https://t.co/RwhW7yeFI2
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 7, 2016
Republican Sen. Mark Kirk was even more direct:
DJT is a malignant clown – unprepared and unfit to be president of the United States.
— Mark Kirk (@SenatorKirk) October 7, 2016
Mitt Romney, the last GOP nominee, tweeted his disgust:
Hitting on married women? Condoning assault? Such vile degradations demean our wives and daughters and corrupt America’s face to the world.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) October 8, 2016
Jeb Bush, who lost the nomination to Trump earlier this year, said this:
As the grandfather of two precious girls, I find that no apology can excuse away Donald Trump’s reprehensible comments degrading women.
— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) October 7, 2016
You can expect this topic to come up during the next presidential debate on Sunday. A new poll released today shows Clinton expanding her lead over Trump nationally to five points. She also now leads in every battleground state including Florida and Ohio.