Republicans in crisis over Trump's vulgar
video
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[October 10, 2016]
By Richard Cowan and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON/ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - The U.S.
Republican Party on Sunday confronted its biggest crisis in more than 40
years when its presidential nominee, Donald Trump, faced a storm over
sexually aggressive comments he made about women in a newly uncovered
2005 video.
Only a month before the Nov. 8 election and on a day when Trump was due
to debate Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Trump took to
social media to squelch any speculation that he would leave the race.
"Tremendous support (except for some Republican leadership"). Thank
you," Trump wrote on Twitter.
Then in a last-minute surprise in St. Louis, host city for the town-hall
debate, Trump called journalists into a hotel room to witness a meeting
he held with four women who revived accusations of past sexual misdeeds
by Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton.
The party turmoil recalled past party crises, including the Watergate
scandal that led to Republican President Richard Nixon's resignation in
1974.
A businessman-turned-politician previously best known to Americans as a
reality TV show host, Trump, 70, faced his latest crisis when on Friday
the 2005 video emerged in which he was heard talking on an open
microphone about groping women and trying to seduce a married woman. The
video was taped only months after Trump married his third wife, Melania.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Oct/10/images/ads/current/napa_bch1-3108.png)
The controversy pitched Trump, 70, into the biggest crisis of his
16-month-old campaign and deepened fissures between him and
establishment Republicans. On Sunday, he struck a defiant tone in the
face of calls for him to abandon the race.
A source close to the campaign of Trump's vice presidential running
mate, Mike Pence, dismissed talk among some political analysts the
Indiana governor might bolt the ticket in the uproar over Trump's
comments.
"Absolutely not," the source told Reuters.
At a Democratic campaign event in Chicago, President Barack Obama
weighed in on the controversy, saying Trump had been degrading not only
to women, but to minorities, immigrants, people of other faiths, and the
disabled.
Obama said that "tells you he is insecure."
"He pumps himself up by putting other people down," Obama said.
SUPPORT WOBBLING
With Republican Party leaders in crisis mode and doubts emerging over
Trump's ability to draw support from crucial undecided voters, there
were nonetheless some early signs many of his core supporters would
remain loyal.
A public opinion poll by POLITICO/Morning Consult, taken just after news
broke of the video, found 39 percent of voters thought Trump should
withdraw, and 45 percent said he should stay. Of those who said Trump
should leave, only 12 percent identified themselves as Republicans.
As of Sunday afternoon, at least 160 of the United States' 332 sitting
Republican governors, senators and House of Representatives members had
condemned Trump's remarks, according to a Reuters review of official
statements and local news coverage.
At least 30 had called for him to withdraw from the race and three other
officeholders said he should consider doing so. Eight of those said they
were withdrawing their endorsement as well.
Those facing a difficult re-election were more likely to speak out. All
but six of the 40 Republican officeholders whose races are considered
competitive had condemned Trump’s comments on the video, although only
three members of that group called for him to drop out.
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Supporters of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump
demonstrate outside Trump Tower where Trump lives in the Manhattan
borough of New York, U.S., October 8, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar
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Any attempt to replace Trump on the ballot would face huge legal and
logistical hurdles.
The Trump campaign was battling back, circulating "talking points"
to a core of high-profile Republicans who promote Trump in the news
media. The points sought to undermine establishment Republicans who
have abandoned Trump.
“They are more concerned with their political future than they are
about the future of the country,” said a copy of the talking points,
described to Reuters by two sources close to the campaign.
A real estate developer making his first run at public office, Trump
has made his battle against the establishment a central campaign
theme.
"Phones have been blowing up for the past 24 hours," said a
prominent Republican political operative in Washington, referring to
a heavy volume of calls among party officials and Republican members
of Congress.
DOWN-BALLOT RACES
The operative, who did not want to be identified, said Trump's
troubles could steer campaign donations away from him and to
Republican candidates for Congress and other down-ballot offices.
The source said Trump could help himself most during the
presidential debate - the second of three before the election - if
he addressed the video and an Oct. 1 New York Times report that he
took so substantial a tax deduction on a declared $916 million loss
in 1995 that he could legally have avoided paying any federal income
taxes for up to 18 years.
Despite having recovered from a string of setbacks, Trump had an
uphill battle to win the White House. Before the video surfaced, a
Reuters/Ipsos poll had Clinton leading by 5 points on Friday. The
question now is whether Trump's quest for the presidency has been
dealt a lethal blow.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Oct/10/images/ads/current/pacesetter_lda_041116.png)
(Reporting by Steve Holland in St. Louis and Richard Cowan in
Washington; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Ginger Gibson, Alana
Wise, Susan Heavey, Susan Cornwell, Andy Sullivan, Diane Bartz and
Susan Heavey in Washington, Emily Flitter and Grant Smith in New
York and Ayesha Rascoe in Chicago; Editing by Howard Goller and
Peter Cooney)
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