Even Trump may have a hard time riding this one out

The Washington Post reports:

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.

“I moved on her, and I failed. I’ll admit it,” Trump is heard saying. It was unclear when the events he was describing took place. The tape was recorded several months after he married his third wife, Melania.

 

“Whoa,” another voice said.

“I did try and f— her. She was married,” Trump says.

Trump continues: “And I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, ‘I’ll show you where they have some nice furniture.’”

“I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there. And she was married,” Trump says. “Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look.” …

At that point in the audio, Trump and Bush appear to notice Arianne Zucker, the actress who is waiting to escort them into the soap-opera set.

“Your girl’s hot as s—, in the purple,” says Bush, who’s now a co-host of NBC’s “Today” show.

“Whoa!” Trump says. “Whoa!”

 

“I’ve got to use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her,” Trump says. “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,” Trump says. “You can do anything.”

“Whatever you want,” says another voice, apparently Bush’s.

“Grab them by the p—y,” Trump says. “You can do anything.”

So a Bush may be Trump’s downfall!

Responses so far include:

• Paul Ryan cancelling an invitation for Trump to speak in Wisconsin
• The Governor of Utah rescinding his support
• Senator Kirk of Illinois calling on Trump to pull out
• Mitt Romney saying “Hitting on married women? Condoning assault? Such vile degradations demean our wives and daughters and corrupt America’s face to the world,”
• Marco Rubio saying “Donald’s comments were vulgar, egregious & impossible to justify.
  No one should ever talk about any woman in those terms, even in private.”

The damage isn’t so much to Trump himself (though there may be some) but everyone else standing on the Republican ticket who has to either unendorse him or risk being tarred.