But the videotape fits all of the major criteria for a damaging scandal, and it puts congressional Republicans in a precarious position.
It fits the Democrats’ contention that Mr. Trump is a misogynist. The Clinton campaign has been laying the groundwork for weeks with ads about his statements about women.
■ The scandal is easy to explain and can be turned into new television advertisements, although in this case it is probably unnecessary.
.. In August 2012, Claire McCaskill and Todd Akin were in a competitive Missouri Senate race before Mr. Akin, the Republican candidate, said that victims of what he called “legitimate rape” very rarely became pregnant.
.. Over all, he lost about 20 percent of the voters who supported Mr. Romney, according to exit polls.
.. It’s not clear to me that Mrs. Clinton could approach anything like 55 percent of the vote, given her high unfavorable ratings, even in a total Trump collapse.
.. Then came Mark Foley. In late September, it was revealed that Mr. Foley, a Republican congressman, had sent lewd messages to former congressional pages. At least some House Republicans were aware of it, and didn’t do anything
.. The underlying vulnerability in each case — George W. Bush and Mr. Trump — did not go away. But it really seemed as if the 2016 G.O.P. could dodge the worst of it
..Mr. Trump poses a more difficult challenge for Republican officials than Mr. Foley did: There was no cost to repudiating Mr. Foley, but the decision on whether to repudiate Mr. Trump puts Republicans in the unenviable position of alienating either Mr. Trump’s fervent base or moderate voters.
What We’re Watching for in the Second Debate
The biggest shock is their charade of it, because the recording revealed nothing new. The Trump it captures is the Trump that we’ve all heard, seen and known from the beginning. The only difference is that he’d pretty much reached his end by the time the recording came out. His revolting words enabled Republicans who were increasingly certain of his defeat in the presidential election and were itching for an exit route to wrap themselves in moral outrage as they skittered to one.
.. But why should Trump the Lech be the final straw any more than Trump the Bigot or Trump the Racist? What precisely about his grotesque banter with Bush was more damning than the way he clung to the birther conspiracy and congratulated himself for it? Or his dismissal of a Mexican-American judge? Or his adoration of Vladimir Putin? Or so much else? He disqualified himself repeatedly — and long ago.
.. But if Sunday night’s debate doesn’t stanch his bleeding, look for a new tactic and an altered message: that a Clinton presidency is inevitable and that voters with apprehensions about it should make sure that she’s restrained by a Congress in firm Republican control.
Pence refuses to respond on Trump’s comments
The GOP VP nominee dodges reporters asking about Trump making the most aggressive, crude comments about women yet
TOLEDO, Ohio — 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.
.. “How can you ignore this question?” an ABC reporter asked repeatedly, as Pence simply smiled and shook hands.
.. “Governor, what’s your reaction to the Trump tape?” Pence was asked by POLITICO as he shook hands and an aide whisper over his shoulder. “Governor, The Washington Post report, what is your reaction?”
Pence simply kept shaking hands, moving down the line.
.. At the rally, Pence stuck to his usual stump speech, including a section in which he criticizes the media for focusing on some of Trump’s controversial past comments.
“And invariably, they’ll say, this time we got him, right? This time we found that there’s another tweet come out or something,” Pence said. “This time we got another thing, another issue that’s come forward. Then they turn on the television the next morning, and Donald Trump is still standing stronger than ever before and fighting for the American people. And he is going to fight all the way to the White House.”
Ryan cozies up to Trump
The speaker and GOP nominee will appear together on the campaign trail for the first time.
.. Paul Ryan has kept his distance from Donald Trump all year long — occasionally taking him to task, only reluctantly endorsing him and rarely uttering the presidential nominee’s name at the Republican National Convention. But that all changes on Saturday when the two hit the campaign trail together for the first time — an appearance that could reverberate politically for the House speaker beyond the weekend event in Wisconsin.
.. After that, it read: “Presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump will also join Wisconsin Republicans” at the festival.
.. Ryan has been more upbeat about Trump in recent days that he had been. The speaker complimented Trump’s performance in the first debate, even as other Capitol Hill Republicans said it was severely lacking. And he refused to chastise Trump after he criticized a former Miss Universe for gaining weight.