Daily Kos will be liveblogging tonight's presidential debate starting at 9pm ET.
As we near the appointed time for what surely has to be the most anticipated presidential debate in the modern era, all signs suggest that Donald Trump is (1) livid, (2) unapologetic, and (3) ready to burn his whole party down. If you haven't been able to pay full attention this weekend, here's a rundown of what's happened and what's likely about to happen after the release of a 2005 tape in which the future Republican nominee for president bragged about being able to get away with sexually assaulting women due to his own fame.
What's happened so far:
• Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus has put a hold on the party's mailing efforts on behalf of Trump. Amid reports that some in the offices are increasingly reluctant to work on Trump's behalf, Priebus is reportedly telling staffers to do "what's best" for them.
• Both Priebus and Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway were scheduled to go on the morning shows today; both were withdrawn and replaced with a multi-network tour by Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani. It was a disaster. On Meet The Press Giuliani was boxed in and humiliated by host Chuck Todd; on This Week he was forced to admit that yes, what Donald Trump was describing in the tape was indeed sexual assault; on CNN his preferred talking point, that Trump's words were just how men talk, were slapped back by a clearly repulsed Jake Tapper.
• There's rumors that Kellyanne Conway is considering leaving the campaign.
• Vice presidential candidate Mike Pence emerged from his silence to give a statement condemning Trump's remarks.
• This may not even be the end of it. There's been ongoing claims that unaired tapes from The Apprentice have Trump saying things that are even worse; "pro-Trump" series producer Mark Burnett, however, is threatening to sue anyone who leaks those tapes. Yet another round of vile comments from Trump's Howard Stern interviews have come out, one of which corroborates a claim Trump previously denied—that he used his status as pageant owner to leer at naked pageant contestants backstage.
• The Trump campaign was considering letting their candidate do a one-on-one interview in which Trump could more fully apologize; that idea was squashed after the additional Stern tapes were released. His wife Melania refused to participate.
• Heading to the debate tonight, Trump ditched his traveling press pool in New York City.
• As his last pre-debate act, he held a photo-op with women who accused President Bill Clinton of sexual assault in the 1990’s. Which left the collective punditry picking their jaws off the floor—and they haven’t quite succeeded yet.
What to expect tonight:
• We don't know. We really don't know. Donald Trump is notoriously thin-skinned and brittle, and he's now facing attacks from all sides about not just his fitness for the presidency, but his behavior as an alleged human being. How does he respond if the town hall audience turns hostile? He could berate them. He could throw down his microphone and walk out. He could throw a chair, for all we know. We're in uncharted territory here.
• The first set of debate questions is indeed expected to directly address Trump's 2005 comments.
• All indications are that Trump will respond with attacks on former president Bill Clinton—and attacks on Hillary Clinton. To say this is a dangerous approach is an understatement; the Clintons have weathered the same for decades. But it's probably being pushed hard by top Trump hanger-on Roger Stone and campaign CEO Steve Bannon, both notoriously sleazy conspiracy-mongers who have worked hard to mainstream conspiracy theories about Trump’s various opponents.
Note that the detachment between Trump and the party’s more experienced operatives means there's very few voices in Trump Tower who can walk Trump back from whatever the lunatic Stone and the conspiracy theorists at Breitbart want Trump to say. There are no steadying hands anymore. It's just Trump and the screaming voices of the Republican id.
• Indeed, the Republican base is standing behind Trump: 74 percent say the party should continue to support him after the release of the 2005 tape. Only about half of Republican voters say the tape made them feel “less favorable” towards the candidate.
So that's where we are. Trump's team expects him to come out and blast Hillary Clinton for standing by Bill Clinton during the 1990's. The Republican Party infrastructure is on pause, waiting to see if Trump can walk his campaign back from the brink tonight or if he instead doubles or triples the damage. His base of deplorables is standing by him, but they're also furious with Republicans who are distancing themselves—setting up a potential scenario where the party is split down the middle on election day, between Republicans who can't stomach voting for Trump but who will vote for downticket Republicans and Republicans who insist on voting for Trump but will withhold their votes from insufficiently supportive downticket campaigners.
Get ready for an evening like we've never before seen in politics. Once again, Donald Trump has managed something historic.