‘Wounded’ Donald Trump may be dangerous in second bout

It’s being called an “epic and historic political crisis” that Republican nominee Donald Trump has plunged his party into ahead of a crucial debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton. And the bad news just isn’t stopping.

A day after a video showing Mr Trump making crude sexual remarks and talking about groping women was released, there was another burst of offensive remarks Saturday. In an old interview that has surfaced, Mr Trump is heard speaking of his daughter Ivanka’s breasts, three-way sex and not dating women who are over the age of 35. He also described barging in on nude Miss Universe beauty pageant contestants in their dressing room, characterising his visits as inspections.

With just a month to go until election day, the wave of GOP lawmakers calling on Trump to drop out of the race is growing by the minute.

Despite Mr Trump’s apology and Ukip leader Nigel Farage insisting that the Republican candidate’s obscene remarks were “ugly, ugly, ugly”, but amounted to nothing more than “alpha male boasting”, at least 33 senior Republicans — including senators, members of Congress, and state governors — have withdrawn their support since the video surfaced on Friday. But there is little they can do to.

There’s a tiny loophole in the party’s rules (Rule 9) that, theoretically, could be exploited. But it involves three-fourth majority of the Republican National Committee voting to amend the rules. This is not likely to happen. The only hope then is for the nominee to step down voluntarily. This won’t happen.

A defiant Trump, brandishing his fist to cheers from dozens of supporters late Saturday outside Trump Tower skyscraper in New York, responded “100 per cent” when asked if he was staying in the race.

Several Democrats believe that Trump will come into Sunday’s town-hall-style debate with the mindset of a “wounded animal,” something that could make him more dangerous to his opponent, and to himself.

“I’ve never seen a candidate walk into a debate with this much at stake,” said long-time Clinton ally James Carville. “He’s overweight, he’s old, he’s tired and he’s crabby. And he’s going to have a very long hour-and-a-half.”

His adviser Rudy Giuliani said Mr Trump may well bring up Mrs Clinton’s alleged role in discrediting women who accused her husband Bill of sexual abuse.

On Saturday night, Mr Trump retweeted two messages from an account labeled as belonging to Juanita Broaddrick, who alleged in 1999 that Mr Clinton had raped her in April 1978. The tweets accused Mr Clinton of being a “rapist” and Ms Clinton of threatening her; the Clintons have repeatedly denied the allegations.

The second presidential debate is at 0200 GMT Monday at Washington University in St Louis.