Trump defies Republican backlash
Billionaire vows to press on despite bragging on tape about advances on women
NEW YORK — A defiant Donald Trump insisted Saturday he would “never” 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 running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, declared he could neither condone nor defend Trump’s remarks in a 2005 videotape that sparked panic in Trump Tower and throughout the Republican Party with early voting already underway one month before Election Day.
“We pray for his family,” Pence said in a statement after cancelling 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 day before. They stopped short of withdrawing support.
The furor places enormous pressure on Trump to try to tamp down a crisis sure to spill into the presidential debate Sunday night.
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 called Ryan a “traitor” for denouncing the presidential contender’s comments.
Ryan and Priebus did not join a chorus of Republican officeholders who decided the former reality television star’s bombshell was too much to take. More than a dozen Republicans announced Saturday they would not vote for Trump.
Among them was 2008 nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, who had stood by Trump even after the billionaire questioned whether the former PoW should be considered a war hero because he was “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 “behaviour this week,” he said, it is “impossible to continue to offer even conditional support for his candidacy.”
Many went farther and called on Trump to quit the race altogether.
Trump addressed the dire situation Saturday with a lighthearted tweet: “Certainly has been an interesting 24 hours!”
He later tweeted he would not yield the nomination: “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 firestorm was sparked by a 2005 video released Friday by The Washington Post and NBC News. In the video, Trump, then married to his current wife, 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.