Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump tweeted Saturday that he would "never drop out of the race" and said the media and "the establishment" were trying to thwart his candidacy with the release of a 2005 video recording of Trump making lewd remarks about women.
"I said it. I was wrong and I apologize," Trump said in a video that was posted earlier Saturday on his Facebook page.
The billionaire businessman said the highly publicized recording should be "nothing more than a distraction" during the remaining weeks of the campaign before November's U.S. election. He indicated he will refocus his arguments against his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, by arguing that former president Bill Clinton, her husband, has committed far worse misdeeds against women.
"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," Trump said in his apology video.
Trump and Clinton are due to appear together Sunday in the second of three debates scheduled during the final weeks of the campaign.
Trump's wife, Melania, said his words were "unacceptable and offensive," but that she hopes American voters will accept his apology. Melania is Trump's third wife, to whom he was newly married at the time the 2005 video was recorded.
Trump's wife, Melania, said his words were "unacceptable and offensive," but that she hopes American voters will accept his apology. Melania is Trump's third wife, to whom he was newly married at the time the 2005 video was recorded.
"This does not represent the man that I know," Melania Trump said. "He has the heart and mind of a leader."
Standing with women likely further damaged
Political experts and social scientists said they expect the outcry over the Trump video, which has dominated political discourse in the U.S. since it was disclosed Friday, will negatively affect his chances in the November 8 election.
Kelly Dittmar, a political science professor at Rutgers University-Camden and scholar at the university’s Center for American Women and Politics, told VOA the video recording is "pattern behavior” that Trump has displayed in the past. However, Dittmar said this was a particularly egregious incident.
“It will be damaging with women, but many of those women already saw this [attitude] and were affected by his statements about women. I think you’re going to see more men after this also feel pressured and disinclined to support somebody who makes these sorts of statements against women,” Dittmar said.
In the video, Trump can be heard making bawdy remarks about groping women, and boasting of his ability to make sexual advances. "You can do anything" to women when you're famous, Trump said.
Public-opinion surveys throughout the campaign have shown Trump is less popular among women, especially college-educated women. University of Mary Washington political science professor Rosalyn Cooperman, an expert on women in politics.
In terms of demographics ... we know [women] are more reliable voters than their male counterparts," Cooperman said, meaning that they turn out in greater numbers than men, for the most part. "These types of comments are absolutely unhelpful, and that would perhaps be an understatement to the Republican nominee at this point.”
“What has finally become apparent ... especially with such language that endorses sexual assaults, is the fact that [the Republican Party has] a white married women problem, and that’s ultimately the demographic that they want to keep in their camp.
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