As donors and supporters continue to bail, Donald Trump has issued the following video apology for his 2005 comments denigrating women and talking about grabbing women “by the p***y”:

Anyone who knows me knows these words don’t reflect who I am. I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize.
[…]
This is nothing more than a distraction from the important issues we’re facing today.

Trump goes on to attack Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton for their treatment of women.

This is pretty remarkable, given that Trump never apologizes for anything. Anything! That said, “those words” reflect who Donald Trump is, perfectly. Nobody who has paid attention to Trump could be the slightest bit surprised by what emerged today.

We’ll see what the fallout is tomorrow. Here’s the video:

UPDATE: Here’s Mike Lee blasting Trump over this. I love Mike Lee.

[guest post by Dana]

So this afternoon brought on another October surprise.

Back in 2005, Donald Trump was caught on a hot mic saying some pretty lewd things about women:

“I moved on her and I failed. I’ll admit it. I did try and fuck her. She was married. I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there. And she was married…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.’”… Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look…. Whoa! I’ve gotta use some tic tacs, just in case I start kissing her. 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 … Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.”

Pretty gross. But no cigars were involved.

This latest from Trump is getting quite a lot of buzz. Sex, power, the objectification of women. And by a Republican. What more could the media hope for? But I am going to be mindful not to judge or condemn because I had it hammered into me, just like all of you, that what takes place between two consenting adults is nobody’s business, even if one of those adults holds the highest office in the land. Twenty-one years ago, Bill Clinton personally lowered the moral bar for every president to come. And the MSM and the Democrats made a shrewd political calculation and threw in with Clinton, condemning any who condemned their leader for his moral failings. So how can any of them now judge Trump for this? Because as I see it, that ship sailed. Set to sea by their own party.

A whole lot of Americans and the GOP decided it wanted a crass, self-consumed dishonest 12-year old hack for president. Well, here you go. No one on the right side of the aisle better be surprised by any of this. After all, you supporters and party officials have spent the last few months trying to guilt, manipulate and bully us into supporting Trump because only he can change America. Just maybe not in the way you think. Or hope. You’ve got to own this now.

And don’t even get me started on Hillary Clinton’s reaction to the Trump comments:

This is horrific. We cannot allow this man to become president.

Really, Hillary? Really? How is this any worse than the powerful, predatory male that you lived in the White House with? How is this any worse than you working to destroy his many paramours — and rape accusers? Further, do you really think the beautiful women on the receiving end of these lewd comments would put up with them if they were made by a poor man without the social and public standing of your husband, or Trump?

Ultimately, while Trump is crude, lewd, and horrible in just about every way, he still did not get 4 Americans killed, jeopardize national security, have a direct hand in lighting the Middle East on fire, and play fast and loose with people’s very lives, all while holding public office.

–Dana

UPDATE BY PATTERICO: My take on this is posted at RedState.

UPDATE x2 BY PATTERICO:

"Yes…that's right, ma'am. The pussy, yes. You just grab 'em by the pussy. It's a metaphor. For Freedom. I am going to kill myself soon." pic.twitter.com/8gjeRmTkHJ

— Matt (@YayImOnline) October 7, 2016

UPDATE x3 BY PATTERICO:

Paul Ryan, saying he was sickened by Trump audiotape, pulls out of event with Trump in Wisconsin Saturday.

— Brit Hume (@brithume) October 8, 2016

I’ll say it again: Ted Cruz should not have endorsed.

UPDATE x4 BY PATTERICO: I updated the headline so nobody can miss what we’re talking about. Here’s Jonah Goldberg:

Character is destiny. The man in the video is Donald Trump. Sure, it’s bawdy Trump. It’s “locker room Trump.” And I’m no prude about dirty talk in private. But that isn’t all that’s going on. This isn’t just bad language or objectifying women with your buddies. It’s a married man who is bragging about trying to bed a married woman. It’s an insecure, morally ugly, man-child who thinks boasting about how he can get away with groping women ”because you’re a star” impresses people. He’s a grotesque — as a businessman and a man full stop.

If you can see that, but still think Hillary Clinton would be worse. Fine. Just be prepared for an endless stream of more embarrassments in your name. And, for my friends in the media and in politics, if you minimize, dismiss or celebrate his grotesqueness out of partisan zeal, just keep in mind that some people, including your children, might think you mean it. Or, they might know you don’t mean it. Which means they now know you lie for a living.

Indeed.

UPDATE x5 BY PATTERICO: It occurs to me that we should show you the video, so you can see what all the fuss is about. Here you go.

Is Trump preparing for the next debate? Depends on whom you ask.

If you ask, say, the New York Post, he’s all over it:

Donald Trump is taking next week’s presidential debate – a nationally televised town hall forum – seriously enough to prepare, carving out time with governor-turned-debate coach Chris Christie and even conducting a live open-to-press mock town hall in New Hampshire.

Wow! Impressive! Except POLITICO has a different take, and it appears to be backed up with actual quotes:

This was not the debate tune-up that jittery Republicans were hoping for.
Only days before Donald Trump must face Hillary Clinton in a town-hall style presidential debate, the GOP nominee added just such an event in New Hampshire. It was seemingly a concession to anxious allies and advisers hoping he might hone his skills in what can be a difficult format even for the most dexterous of politicians.

Trump had other plans. “They were saying this is practice for Sunday,” he told the crowd in speech before the so-called town-hall. “This isn’t practice. This has nothing to do with Sunday.”

He wasn’t wrong.

. . . .

Trump’s campaign did place a two-minute countdown clock in front of their candidate on Thursday. He repeatedly blew past that time limit anyway.

“I said forget debate prep. I mean, give me a break,” Trump said at one point. “Do you really think that Hillary Clinton is debate-prepping for three or four days. Hillary Clinton is resting, okay?”

Even people who despise Trump, like me, at least thought that maybe he’d slap Hillary around a little in the debates, in ways that other people wouldn’t dare. Sure, we knew he’d be ineffective, goofy, ill-informed, and generally Trumpy. But at least we’d have the satisfaction of watching Hillary take a few roundhouses. Instead we got this: “I was going to say something extremely rough to Hillary, to her family, and I said to myself, ‘I can’t do it. I just can’t do it. It’s inappropriate. It’s not nice.'”

Boooooooooo.

Trump will never “prepare” for anything because he has the attention span of that dog from “Up!” who always chases the squirrels. But is it asking to much for him not to play the smarmy classy guy nobody believes he really is?