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Trump’s lewd tape has triggered a rare event: an apology

The Trump tape on the bus qualifies as a really bad moment for a candidate who already has problems with women.
AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty

Donald Trump did something he almost never does Friday — he apologized.

If you're wondering if the Trump campaign is concerned about electoral ramifications from the leaked 2005 tape of Trump telling the Today Show's Billy Bush he can manhandle women whenever he wants because he's famous, that's really all you need to know.

The Republican nominee gives a master class on how to turn off women voters in the tape — he objectifies them, mocks them and says he can "grab them by the pussy" because he's "a star."

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Trump is famous for not apologizing. Today, he said he was sorry immediately after the tape was posted online by the Washington Post. "This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago," Trump said in a statement.

"Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course ? not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended."

It's not exactly a full-throated apology, but the fact that it exists at all says a lot.

Trump already has a huge problem with women. A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll showed he has just a 24 percent favorable rating among women respondents. Sixty-four percent of women respondents had an unfavorable rating.

Elections are hard to win without women. Republican strategists know this. The Trump tape on the bus qualifies as a really bad moment for a candidate who already has problems with women. In the latest NBC/WSJ poll, 64 percent of women had had a negative view of Trump, while 53 percent had a 'very negative' view, and 24 percent had a positive view.

Related: In 2005 tape, Trump suggests he can sexually assault women because he's 'a star'