PD Editorial: Donald Trump’s lonely race to the bottom

To call the past four days of the presidential race dramatic is an understatement. Shocking, painful and, at times, repulsive provide a better spectrum of adjectives.

Whatever it has been, it has been historic. At no time in modern American politics has a presidential candidate been thrown into such turmoil so close to the election, with internal party chaos, condemnation and, at times, abandonment. Donald Trump has experienced all that and more following the disclosure Friday of an audio recording of him making sexually degrading remarks about women.

By Sunday, Trump had lost the support of at least two dozen Republican members of Congress, including former presidential candidate Sen. John McCain of Arizona who said there were no excuses for Trump's 'offensive and demeaning comments.' 'No woman should ever be victimized by this kind of inappropriate behavior,' he said.

By Monday, he was further isolated by House Speaker Paul D. Ryan who said he would no longer campaign for Trump and that he would devote himself to trying to hold onto GOP majorities in the House and Senate.

Probably the best that can be said of Trump's weekend is that he managed not to lose his running mate, Mike Pence, although the Indiana governor said he, too, was disturbed by Trump's comments and did not attend a GOP rally that he was scheduled to attend with Ryan on Saturday.

Making matters worse was Trump's qualified apologies for his behavior, which began with a statement calling his dialogue with 'Access Hollywood' host Billy Bush 'locker-room banter,' a reference he would repeat several times during the debate Sunday. 'I apologize if anyone was offended,' he said.

By Sunday, he offered a more direct apology, but then he did what Trump does best, he went on the offensive. First, he convened a panel of four women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct over the years. The message to voters, particularly base supporters, was clear: 'You may dislike me, but I want to remind you how much you hate Bill Clinton.'

What followed was an even deeper level of malevolence at the debate itself. Wearing a scowl most of the evening, Trump again went on the attack with over-the-top comments that Clinton was a 'devil' and a 'liar' who had 'hate in her heart.' He also pledged that he would ensure a special prosecutor would be tasked with prosecuting her for her mishandling of emails and that she 'would be in jail.' Sometimes, he even appeared to be physically intimidating her by lurking over Clinton's shoulder as she answered questions from the public during the town hall-style debate. In the end, he achieved what he set out to do: be offensive.

All in all it was a disappointing and more than a little creepy response to a recording that was disturbing its own right — of a GOP presidential nominee bragging about making unwanted sexual advances toward women, married or not, and grabbing women by the genitals.

'And when you're a star, they let you do it,' Trump says. 'You can do anything.'

Well, let's hope not anything, like becoming president of the United States. We have said before that we do not believe that Trump is qualified to be commander in chief. These past several days merely confirm what we have suspected all along — that he's not fit for the office either.