Trump seemed upset about loyalty, or lack thereof, among those Republicans who, for whatever reason, felt compelled to condemn his remarks.
"Self-righteous hypocrites," Trump called them.
Trump's initial responses also included: Accusing the Clinton campaign of leaking the tape; rationalizing his gutter-mouth elocution as mere "locker room talk"; disparaging the motives and later the appearance of some accusers (strange coming from guy sporting a bulbous "table muscle" of the size Trump has resting just above his waist); and offering an unprecedented (albeit initially tepid) apology to anyone who, for some peculiar reason, "might have been offended" by it all.
Perhaps most notably, he also implied that Ryan's days as third in line to the presidency may be numbered should Trump become Commander in Chief.
"I would think that Ryan wouldn't be (House Speaker)," Trump proffered. "Maybe he would be in a different position."
It was a truly odd spectacle. That of a man who started his campaign by generalizing Mexican immigrants as "rapists" now boo-hooing like the last-place finisher in one of his beauty pageants over his own exposure as a sexual predator. Bill Maher -- who suggested that thanks to Trump, "G.O.P." has become the acronym for " Grab Our Pussies " -- somehow managed to distill to its irrational gist, Trump's flailing, mufti-faceted response:
"How dare you claim that I did the things that I claim I do!"
Maher's knee-slapping hilarity juxtaposed perfectly with the next-level horror within the GOP establishment over the ping-pong-ball effect Trump's exposure had wrought upon many of his Republicans colleagues. On Friday came Trump's lurid Access Hollywood tape leaks. By Saturday night, a gaggle of shook Republicans were making dramatic, pointedly pious public statements renouncing their support of Trump. Then, on Sunday night, Trump had a decent debate performance prompting, by the end of the day Monday, some of the original renouncers into "renouncing" their earlier renouncement and hopping back aboard the Trump Train's Near Dark Express. The comedic nature of this daily moral battle among the flip-floppers pitting core values against political pragmatism was perhaps best described by MSNBC's Chris Hayes as: "Standing firm on alternate days."
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