donald trump tweeted this week that his <u+201c>shackles have been taken off.<u+201d> the rest of us need to buckle up. the effects of a 2005 tape on which trump brags of a history of sexually predatory behavior is still rippling though the trump campaign and wreaking havoc. this is a particularly, spectacularly potent scandal, because of the moral clarity of how reprehensible it is. this is not an issue that you can couch in policy or strategy. this is so very clearly about character. it is unambiguous and lecherous. it is repulsive and rapacious. and it appears to fit a pattern. buzzfeed reported on wednesday: <u+201c>four women who competed in the 1997 miss teen usa beauty pageant said donald trump walked into the dressing room while contestants <u+2014> some as young as 15 <u+2014> were changing.<u+201d> one of the young contestants told buzzfeed that when trump entered the dressing room while she was getting dressed, he <u+201c>said something like, <u+2018>don<u+2019>t worry, ladies, i<u+2019>ve seen it all before.<u+2019><u+201d> as newsweek r eported on sunday: <u+201c>jill harth, a pageant owner trying to work with trump in the mid-1990s, filed suit against him in federal court in manhattan in 1997, describing a <u+2018>relentless<u+2019> campaign of sexual harassment and assault including an incident in which he reached under a table, put his hands on her thighs and grabbed her <u+2018>intimate private parts<u+2019> during a meeting at a new york restaurant.<u+201d> temple taggart, miss utah 1997, told the times in may that when she was introduced to trump, <u+201c>he kissed me directly on the lips. i thought, <u+2018>oh my god, gross.<u+2019><u+201d> gross is right. no one can defend it, but that hasn<u+2019>t stopped trump and his supporters from twisting themselves into knots trying to. trump has repeatedly called it <u+201c>locker room<u+201d> talk and suggested that he was lying when he said that he had assaulted women. supporters have done everything from deny that what trump described was indeed assault to saying the tape was made before trump began his faith journey to attacking beyonc<u+00e9> lyrics and hillary clinton<u+2019>s admiration of the pop star. none of that has worked particularly well. trump<u+2019>s post-tape polls look absolutely horrendous. furthermore, prominent republicans are fleeing in droves. according to the times, more than 160 republican leaders, most of them members of congress or governors, have declared that they won<u+2019>t support donald trump. nearly a third of those fled from trump in the wake of the lewd tape. in a statement, john mccain wrote : <u+201c>donald trump<u+2019>s behavior this week, concluding with the disclosure of his demeaning comments about women and his boasts about sexual assaults, make it impossible to continue to offer even conditional support for his candidacy.<u+201d> the times reported on monday, referring to the speaker of the house, paul ryan: <u+201c>mr. ryan informed republican lawmakers on a morning conference call that he would never again campaign for mr. trump and would dedicate himself instead to defending the party<u+2019>s majority in congress.<u+201d> ryan<u+2019>s spokeswoman followed up with a statement confirming that <u+201c>the speaker is going to spend the next month focused entirely on protecting our congressional majorities.<u+201d> trump is bleeding badly. but many of us know this from nature: a wounded animal is a dangerous animal. trump is lashing out like a man with nothing left to lose. if he is going down, he<u+2019>s threatening to take the entire ecosystem with him. he<u+2019>s lashing out at the republican establishment <u+2014> especially ryan and mccain <u+2014> in a striking and seemingly unprecedented intraparty feud just weeks ahead of the election. but trump is also striking out at clinton and obama. trump threatened this week , <u+201c>if they want to release more tapes saying inappropriate things, we<u+2019>ll continue to talk about bill and hillary clinton doing inappropriate things.<u+201d> he also continues to threaten to investigate clinton and lock her up, and seemed to return to the absurd assertion that obama founded the islamic state. none of this seems like an effective strategy to broaden his base and actually win in november. this feels like trump having a temper tantrum. this feels like a campaign in its death throes. trump had some good weeks when he was following a disciplined strategy of reading speeches from a teleprompter and effectively deceiving some into believing that he was not in fact the man who he has, over the course of his life, revealed himself to be. apparently, that deception was a set of shackles. in other words, it was a lie. this is true trump: mean, erratic, abrasive and pathological. trump still has a chance to turn things around, but as of now he<u+2019>s showing no inclination that he wants to. as disturbing as the idea of a foreign government trying to interfere with our elections is, the content of leaked emails from the clinton campaign could be far more damaging to her in the hands of a more competent opposition. but trump isn<u+2019>t a competent opponent. he<u+2019>s a maladroit savage spiraling out of control. i invite you to join me on facebook and follow me on twitter (@charlesmblow), or email me at chblow@nytimes.com . follow the new york times opinion section on facebook and twitter (@nytopinion), and sign up for the opinion today newsletter .
donald trump, unshackled and unhinged
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