Trump Advisers And Staff Appalled, Doubt His Campaign Will Survive
Campaign staff and advisers to Donald Trump are expressing shock in the wake of the release of an audio recording of his repulsive 2005 remarks about women.
Reactions are ranging from “astonished to apoplectic,” according to a report from CNN.
A close adviser expressed concern to CNN that Trump might not be able to mount a comeback after this.
“This should have never happened. I wish it had never happened. I think I know that men talk this way sometimes, but it’s nothing I would ever want to hear or condone or approve of,” the adviser, who wished to remain anonymous said. “My reaction is — it’s appalling. It’s just flat out appalling.”
Trump issued a statement late Friday regarding the comments, in which he downplayed his remarks:
“This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course – not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended.”[emphasis added]
However, the adviser also told CNN that Trump’s apology did not go far enough towards owning his mistake.
“Doing anything other than to say it was a grievous error and he apologizes would be a mistake,” the adviser said, adding: “I would take it a step further and own to the words as being offensive – not ‘if.'”
CNN spoke to other staffers about the remarks, who all expressed concerned bordering on horror regarding the remarks.
A GOP operative in the swing state of Ohio told CNN “This is bad. I think this thing is over,” and another top adviser in a battleground state said he was “picking [his] chin off the floor.”
Another campaign source told CNN that staffers were “dumbfounded,” adding that Trump’s remarks “could be a death knell,” and a senior campaign adviser was quoted as simply saying “Ugh.”
As CNN reports,
Asked about the reaction at a campaign field office, a Trump field staffer told CNN there were “gasps. Collective gasps. We’re trying to get our heads around it right now, but there’s no way to spin this. There just isn’t.”
The staffer, who is also paying close attention to Senate efforts, also added, unsolicited: “Just think of the down-ballot effect. Brutal.”
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