ELECTION2016 Trump: ‘I will never drop out’
Backlash deepens as more in GOP disavow nominee after vulgar tape
NEW YORK — A defiant Donald Trump insisted Saturday he would not abandon his White House bid, rejecting a growing backlash from Republican leaders nationwide who disavowed the GOP’s presidential nominee after he was caught on tape bragging about predatory advances on women.
Trump’s own running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, declared he could neither condone nor defend Trump’s remarks in a 2005 videotape that sparked panic inside Trump Tower and throughout the GOP with early voting already underway exactly one month before Election Day.
“We pray for his family,” Pence said in a statement Saturday after canceling a Wisconsin appearance scheduled with House Speaker Paul Ryan and the Republican National Committee chairman, Reince Priebus, both of whom had condemned Trump’s remarks.
The furor places enormous pressure on Trump to try to tamp down a crisis sure to spill into Sunday night’s presidential debate.
But even as the fallout deepened fractures in a party already torn about Trump, many remained loyal to the political outsider.
Wisconsin voter Jean Stanley donned a shirt proclaiming Go to “Wisconsin Women Love Trump” and called Ryan a “traitor” for denouncing the presidential contender’s comments.
“He’s a real human,” Stanley said of the New York businessman, surrounded by Trump supporters at the Wisconsin rally where he was set to appear before the videotape emerged.
Ryan and Priebus did not join a chorus of GOP officeholders from Utah to Alabama to New Hampshire who decided the former reality television star’s bombshell was too much to take. More than a dozen Republicans — senators, for daily coverage of the local, state and national elections representatives and sitting governors — announced Saturday they would not vote for Trump.
Among them was the party’s 2008 nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, who had stood by Trump even after the billionaire questioned whether the former prisoner of war should be considered a war hero because he got “captured.”
“He was not my choice, but as a past nominee, I thought it important I respect the fact that Donald Trump won a majority of the delegates by the rules our party set,” McCain said in a statement. But given Trump’s “behavior,” McCain said, it is “impossible to continue to offer even conditional support for his candidacy.”
Many went further and called on Trump to quit the race.
“I thought supporting the nominee was the best thing for our country and our party,” Alabama Rep. Martha Roby said. “Now, it is abundantly clear that the best thing for our country and our party is for Trump to step aside and allow a responsible, respectable Republican to lead the ticket.”
His party in chaos, Trump spent Saturday with a close circle of advisers in his campaign’s midtown Manhattan headquarters.
He addressed the dire situation Saturday with a light-hearted tweet: “Certainly has been an interesting 24 hours!”
He later tweeted he would not yield the GOP nomination under any circumstances: “The media and establishment want me out of the race so badly — I WILL NEVER DROP OUT OF THE RACE, WILL NEVER LET MY SUPPORTERS DOWN!”
The political firestorm was sparked by a 2005 video obtained and released Friday by The Washington Post and NBC News.
In the video, Trump, who was married to current wife Melania at the time, is heard describing attempts to have sex with a married woman. He also brags about women letting him kiss them and grab their genitals because he is famous.
Entertainment journalist Nancy O’Dell, the subject of Trump’s lewd comments, issued a statement Saturday.
“Politics aside, I’m saddened that these comments still exist in our society at all,” she wrote. “When I heard the comments yesterday, it was disappointing to hear such objectification of women. The conversation needs to change because no female, no person, should be the subject of such crass comments, whether or not cameras are rolling.”
In a video released by his campaign early Saturday morning, Trump said, “I was wrong and I apologize.” But he also dismissed the revelations as “nothing more than a distraction” from a decade ago. Foreshadowing a likely attack in Sunday’s debate, he also suggested that rival Hillary Clinton has committed greater sins against women.
“I’ve said some foolish things,” Trump said. “But there’s a big difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims.”
While still publicly backing Trump, the RNC is considering how to move forward.
“We are working to evaluate the appropriate messaging going forward,” RNC chief strategist Sean Spicer said.