Thread: Ryan calls off plans to campaign with Trump; GOP-ers rush to distance themselves

Ryan calls off plans to campaign with Trump; GOP-ers rush to distance themselves

By Mike DeBonis and Abby Phillip October 7 at 11:49 PM

Watch: Donald Trump recorded having extremely lewd conversation about women in 2005

Play Video3:0
In this video from 2005, Donald Trump prepares for an appearance on "Days of Our Lives" with actress Arianne Zucker. He is accompanied to the set by "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush. The Post has edited this video for length. (Obtained by The Washington Post)

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan asked Donald Trump not to attend a campaign event with him Saturday as scores of other Republicans attempt to distance themselves from the party’s nominee following the disclosure on Friday of a 2005 video in which Trump made lewd comments about women.

The two men were expected to appear in Ryan’s home state of Wisconsin on the eve of the second presidential debate, but Ryan called off the plan, according to two people familiar with the discussions. Ryan and Trump did not speak personally on Friday, one of them said.

Ryan said in statement late Friday that Trump “is no longer attending” the event — a festival in Ryan’s Wisconsin congressional district.

He decried Trump’s newly revealed comments in stark terms.

“I am sickened by what I heard today,” Ryan said.

“Women are to be championed and revered, not objectified. I hope Mr. Trump treats this situation with the seriousness it deserves and works to demonstrate to the country that he has greater respect for women than this clip suggests.”

In a short statement issued moments after Ryan’s, Trump said his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, “will be representing me” at the Wisconsin event while he remained in New York to prepare for Sunday’s town hall debate.

Trump’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on whose decision it was for him not to attend.

The graphic comments, which Trump made in 2005 on a bus and on the set of a soap opera, feature him bragging about his sexual pursuit of a married woman.

“And when you’re a star they let you do it,” Trump says. “Grab them by the p—y. You can do anything.”

What remains to be seen is whether the new revelations, first disclosed by The Washington Post, will trigger a broader abandonment of Trump by GOP officeholders.

[Trump recorded having extremely lewd conversation about women in 2005]

So far the movement to abandon Trump has been a trickle.

Utah’s Republican Gov. Gary Herbert said that he can no longer support Trump and he was followed quickly by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who also rescinded his endorsement of Trump. Both politicians face a Republican base in their states that has been cold to Trump.

“I’m out,” said Chaffetz on CNN. “I think we should all stand up and say we should not tolerate this.”

“I can’t do that with my 15-year-old daughter, so why should I do it with the rest of Utah,” he added.

Republican lawmakers who were already skeptical of Trump were quick to condemn him, and some of that faction went further.

Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, who is running an uphill reelection race, called on Trump to drop out, and Herbert, who represents a state where Trump performed poorly in the GOP primary, said he would no longer vote for him.

But GOP congressional leaders who have endorsed Trump or said they would vote for them, while strongly condemning the newly disclosed remarks, stopped short of rescinding their support.

Many of them urged him to make a full public apology.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the comments are “repugnant, and unacceptable in any circumstance” and made clear Trump’s brief statement would not suffice.

“As the father of three daughters, I strongly believe that Trump needs to apologize directly to women and girls everywhere, and take full responsibility for the utter lack of respect for women shown in his comments on that tape,” he said late Friday.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif) also called on Trump to issue a “full and unqualified apology.”

Paul Ryan’s long path to endorsing Donald Trump
Play Video1:5
Paul Ryan endorsed presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on June 2, but the two haven't always seen eye-to-eye. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

The sheer vulgarity of Trump’s remarks — which included a discussion of the liberties he believed famous men could take with women — made the video difficult for GOP leaders to ignore.

Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee who has vocally criticized Trump, said that Trump’s comments “corrupt America’s” image to the world.

“Hitting on married women? Condoning assault? Such vile degradations demean our wives and daughters and corrupt America’s face to the world,” Romney said.

Trump dismissed his remarks as “locker room banter” and said he apologized “if anyone was offended.”

But allies of Hillary Clinton called it something else: sexual assault.

“Donald Trump apparently thinks he has the right to sexually assault women because he’s famous,” said NARAL Pro-Choice America National Communications Director Kaylie Hanson Long. “Never mind consent, he doesn’t think he needs it.

“He’s not a role model, he’s vulgar and dangerous, and his disregard for women has never been more clear,” she added.

Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, predicted in an interview that it would sink his candidacy.
“I
f someone, quote, grabbed someone by the p—y, to quote Donald Trump, on a subway or on a bus or at a school, they would be in jail. They would be arrested and prosecuted, and they would go to jail,” Laguens said. “I think we are now moving to the end of the end of Donald Trump.”
T
he Clinton campaign’s deputy communications director Christina Reynolds added: “This is horrific. We cannot allow this man to become president.”

Republican strategists warned that the comments combined with the timing — just days before the second presidential debate in St. Louis — could leave a mark.
“T
his one will cause real damage,” Republican pollster Frank Luntz said. “Every hour Trump waits to respond, it’s another 10,000 votes for Hillary. He owes the American people an explanation. What is taking so long?”

And how Trump handles the questioning at the debate on Sunday could help determine how much of an impact it has on voters, said Sarah Isgur Flores, a Republican strategist and former deputy campaign manager to presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina.

“It’s an understatement to say this now means Trump heads into Sunday’s debate on defense, which hasn’t worked out well for a candidate that has trouble staying on message even under normal circumstances,” Flores said. “That being said, there’s a huge overlap between Trump voters and voters who already think Trump is a risky bet.

“So unclear whether this alone will move numbers, but it does make his ability to handle it at the debate in 48 hours wildly more important,” she added.

Women are already a challenging demographic for Trump in many battleground states, and Republicans’ swift reaction to these latest revelations signal how damaging they think it could be for the party and the Republican nominee.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), the highest-ranking woman in House GOP leadership, who said Trump “owes it to our party and our country to treat everyone respectfully” when she endorsed him in May.

“It is never appropriate to condone unwanted sexual advances or violence against women,” said McMorris Rodgers, the Republican Conference chairwoman. “Mr. Trump must realize that it has no place in public or private conversations today or in the past.”

Two senators who have already kept their distance from Trump — Kirk and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) — were more sharply critical. “DJT is a malignant clown – unprepared and unfit to be president of the United States,” tweeted Kirk, who is seeking reelection in a heavily Democratic states and has already announced his intention to write in a presidential candidate rather than vote for Trump.

Follow
Mark Kirk
✔@SenatorKirk

DJT is a malignant clown - unprepared and unfit to be president of the United States.
4:35 PM - 7 Oct 2016

• 
  
• 
  2,4662,466 Retweets
• 
  3,7783,778 likes

He later tweeted that Trump should drop out of the race.

Follow
Mark Kirk
✔@SenatorKirk

.@realDonaldTrump should drop out. @GOP should engage rules for emergency replacement.
5:46 PM - 7 Oct 2016

• 
  
• 
  4,9254,925 Retweets
• 
  7,1077,107 likes

Flake also tweeted his disapproval.

Follow
Jeff Flake
✔@JeffFlake

America deserves far better than @realDonaldTrump
3:14 PM - 7 Oct 2016

• 
  
• 
  2,0972,097 Retweets
• 
  3,6813,681 likes

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), facing a tough reelection battle, issued a statement carefully distancing herself from Trump.

“His comments are totally inappropriate and offensive,” Ayotte said.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), one of Trump’s former rivals for the GOP nomination, also voiced his condemnation of Trump’s 2005 remarks.

Follow
Marco Rubio
✔@marcorubio

Donald's comments were vulgar, egregious & impossible to justify.
No one should ever talk about any woman in those terms, even in private.
6:29 PM - 7 Oct 2016

• 
  
• 
  4,0174,017 Retweets
• 
  7,0957,095 likes

Hillary Clinton’s aides expect the issue to be a major one in Sunday night’s debate at Washington University.

Before then, however, the campaign has been galvanizing supporters with the new revelations, encouraging them to register to vote and to donate to the campaign.

Democrats on Friday sought to heighten the pressure on Republican candidates to repudiate Trump entirely. Virtually every Democratic Senate candidate issued statements to that effect, noting that their opponents had stopped short of a total denunciation.

Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) called it a “moment of truth for Republicans.”

“It is time for every Republican elected official in this county to revoke their endorsements of Donald Trump and state that they will not vote for their party’s nominee, who has been caught on tape bragging about routinely sexually assaulting women,” he said. “There is no way to defend the indefensible.

In the name of decency, Republicans should admit that this deviant – this sociopath – cannot be president.”

Ryan has been compelled to speak out against Trump on several occasions in the past, including when he called for a “complete ban” on Muslim immigration and when he declined to renounce the support of white supremacist leader David Duke in a television interview.
A
fter Trump secured the Republican nomination in March, Ryan delayed throwing his support behind him, seeking further assurances that he would be a “standard bearer that bears our standards.”

Ryan later endorsed Trump, calling him preferable to Hillary Clinton and citing his ability to implement the Republican agenda forged by the House GOP.

The endorsement was sealed after a May closed-door meeting between Trump, Ryan and other House GOP leaders at Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington.

The press was not permitted to photograph the two men together, however. That moment was expected to come Saturday.

Also scheduled to appear at the “FallFest” event are the state’s Republican governor, Scott Walker, and Sen. Ron Johnson, who is seeking reelection this year.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...d-trump-video/

Trump apologizes for vulgar 2005 audio: 'Bill Clinton has said far worse to me'

Yeah, this doesn't surprise me at all, not one bit. Ryan is not someone you'd want watching your back. Ryan is the last guy you want to share a fox hole with. And he's the last person on the planet who can help US fix our country. He's a free trader open borders fanatic. And, he proves it over and over again.

RYAN'S GOTTA GO!!

RYAN'S GOTTA GO!!

Trump now too toxic for Paul Ryan, Hill GOP

CNN

- ‎59 minutes ago‎

(CNN) In recent weeks, House Speaker Paul Ryan has learned to deal with Donald Trump. When Trump went to war with former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, Ryan dismissed questions about it. "I'm not going to get into the 'who said what' this morning on a ...

Ryan, Walker And Johnson Condemn Trump's Comments On Women

Wisconsin Public Radio News‎ - 3 hours ago


'INEXCUSABLE' Lewd Donald Trump Comments Create Firestorm, Wisconsin Appearance Canceled

Patch.com‎ - 54 mins ago

Inexcusable. Trump's comments are inexcusable. — Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) October 8, ...

Paul Ryan is toxic. Paul Ryan un-endorsing Trump would be the best thing to happen since Trump won the nomination without it. Disconnect Ryan. Put him in the Globalist Open Borders Camp where he belongs based on what he believes. To me, any association with Ryan by Trump tarnished Trump, not the other way around.

If Trump is free of Ryan, he can soar and win this election. Trump can also go back to his original tax plan which is far better than Ryan's plan and then move fast to help FairTax Republicans pass the FairTax which Ryan kept buried in his Ways and Means Committee.

'INEXCUSABLE' Lewd Donald Trump Comments Create Firestorm, Wisconsin Appearance Canceled

The political uproar over Donald Trump's comments was so great, it overshadowed a hurricane and Russian hackers ... combined.

By Scott Anderson (Patch Staff) - October 7, 2016 11:25 pm ET

WISCONSIN — Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump has pulled out of Saturday's scheduled campaign stop in Wisconsin after a gaffe so great, it could only be described by words he uses on the campaign trail so very often: "Total Disaster."

The Washington Post on Friday published an article based on a 2005 recording of comments Trump made during a visit to the Days of Our Lives production set to record an appearance on the popular soap opera. On the tape he is heard describing his attempts to seduce a married woman and that he made uninvited sexual advances on women because he was "a star."

The comments were described as "extremely lewd" and are causing a political firestorm among GOP rank and file, and the U.S. electorate.

According to a FOX 6 report, the political uproar over the latest revelation was so momentous that it overtook coverage of a hurricane lashing Florida and a stunning US government accusation of a Russian hacking operation to disrupt the elections.

Here are some of the local reactions:

Follow
Scott Walker
✔@ScottWalker

Inexcusable. Trump's comments are inexcusable.
7:18 PM - 7 Oct 2016

• 
  
• 
  763763 Retweets
• 
  1,2741,274 likes

Paul Ryan

“I am sickened by what I heard today. Women are to be championed and revered, not objectified. I hope Mr. Trump treats this situation with the seriousness it deserves and works to demonstrate to the country that he has greater respect for women than this clip suggests."

Reince Priebus:

“No woman should ever be described in these terms or talked about in this manner. Ever,” Priebus said in a statement released that night.

Ron Johnson:
Get free real-time news alerts from the Waukesha Patch.

SUBSCRIBE

“Donald Trump’s recent comments are completely indefensible and I refuse to even attempt to try and do so.”

DNC Interim Chair Donna Brazile:

“Donald Trump’s offensive, degrading, and disgusting comments about women revealed today are beyond the pale and don’t bear repeating. This was not ‘locker room banter.’ This is who Donald Trump is, and it is just the latest reminder of why he is unfit for the Presidency. He has called women ‘fat pigs,’ ‘bimbos,’ and ‘dogs.’ The only remaining question is whether Republicans will continue to stand by him and call him a role model for our children?”

It Seemed Like Only Yesterday
News broke Thursday morning that Donald Trump - who was rumored this week to be stopping in Wisconsin - had been expected appear with House Speaker Paul Ryan, Gov. Scott Walker, Sen. Ron Johnson and others at a campaign stop Saturday in southeast Wisconsin.

Speaker Ryan announced Thursday that Trump planned to take part in the event at the Walworth County Fairgrounds in Elkhorn.

Remember that one?

Trump had been trying to turn a tepid Wisconsin electorate in his favor as the Nov. election comes up. The 3 counties in Rep. Ryan's district, Walworth, Kenosha, Racine, went for Cruz over Trump in the primary by a tally of 40,362 to 30,473.

http://patch.com/wisconsin/waukesha/...er-ron-johnson

Jon Huntsman calls on Trump to drop out of the race

Originally Posted by Judy

Paul Ryan is toxic. Paul Ryan un-endorsing Trump would be the best thing to happen since Trump won the nomination without it. Disconnect Ryan. Put him in the Globalist Open Borders Camp where he belongs based on what he believes. To me, any association with Ryan by Trump tarnished Trump, not the other way around.

If Trump is free of Ryan, he can soar and win this election. Trump can also go back to his original tax plan which is far better than Ryan's plan and then move fast to help FairTax Republicans pass the FairTax which Ryan kept buried in his Ways and Means Committee.

As much as I hate Paul Ryan, I have to disagree with you on this. A further divide of the party can only prove to be damaging to our chances of a Trump win. I'm not even going to attempt to soften or downplay this. This audio revelation is going to be damaging. All that remains in question is how damaging. What Trump said in the audio is something I would expect to hear from a teenager, not an adult. Hopefully he can recover quickly because the election is getting to close for this crap. Folks are voting as we speak!

Wisconsin, do not fall for this. You're smarter than to do so. Bring it home for Trump, the ONLY PERSON who can fix our country and turn this country around, fix our bad trade deals, secure our borders, protect our nation and citizens from terrorism and other threats, bring our jobs back, grow our economy in healthy ways, lower our taxes, expand our manufacturing base, raise our incomes, grow our small and large businesses, keep us out of foreign wars that do not serve our interests, make NATO members pay their bills, improve our infrastructure and military, take care of our Veterans, improve our relations with Russia and other important countries, and unite our country in magnificent ways behind a mission to Make America Great Again that benefits all Americans.

Trump can win this election and help US fix our country, IF we've all got his back.

There is no sweeter better tougher smarter person that we could have on a ballot for President of the United States than Donald Trump.