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Donald Trump declares war after leaked tape dashes his White House dreams

Trump: Unshackled.

 

Andrew Couts

Tech

Posted on Oct 11, 2016   Updated on May 25, 2021, 8:00 pm CDT

Get ready, America, it’s about to get messy—er, messier.

After House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) and dozens of other high-profile Republican officeholders publicly abandoned the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump appears to have declared war on his own party.

That ominous declaration of freedom followed tweets in which Trump called Ryan “weak” and lamented the “zero support” he’s now receiving from GOP leadership.

(Editor’s note: Trump did not win the second debate in every poll.)

Trump assumed his fighting stance against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton ahead of Sunday night’s presidential debate, which was overshadowed by leaked audio from a 2005 recording of Access Hollywood in which Trump boasts of his ability to sexually assault women with impunity because he’s “a star.”

While Trump already trailed Clinton by around 3.5 points before the tape’s release, an increasing number of likely voters have turned their back on the businessman and former reality TV star in the days since the Washington Post first published the tape. In the two polls conducted in the days after the tape’s release, Clinton launched into a double-digit lead over Trump.

Given the volatility of the 2016 election, however, Trump is not going down without a fight. The question is: Who’s his opponent? 

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*First Published: Oct 11, 2016, 1:33 pm CDT