I had just finished typing this dismissal of an October surprise in the 2016 presidential race: "A contest so whiplashed by this outrage and that scandal that it's lost all shock value."
Perhaps I was wrong.
This piece below just arrived from the Washington Post. Click on the link to see the video – it's just not something I feel comfortable posting here:
The video captures Trump talking with Billy Bush of "Access Hollywood" on a bus with Access Hollywood written across the side. They were arriving on the set of "Days of Our Lives" to tape a segment about Trump's upcoming cameo on the soap opera.
The tape obtained by the Post includes audio of Bush and Trump's conversation inside the bus, as well as audio and video once they emerge from it to begin shooting the segment.
In that audio, Trump discusses a failed attempt to seduce a woman, whose full name is not given in the video.
"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 gotta 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."
U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan is to appear with Trump in Wisconsin on Saturday. Then we can wonder what Hillary Clinton will say about this on Sunday night in St. Louis.
But wait, there's more. On Monday, the most interesting few minutes of the day may belong to Ralph Reed, founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition.
One of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s top evangelical backers, Reed is scheduled to address the student body of Liberty University, the institution founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell.
Here's Reed's attempt to pivot:
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