Texas GOP Reviews Are In On Trump 2005 Video, And They're Not Good: Politicians React [UPDATED]

AUSTIN, TX -- Texas Republicans have begun to issue statements following the emergence of a 2005 video in which GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump spoke about women in vulgar terms, seemingly unaware his lapel microphone was on.

The video captured lewd conversation between Trump and television host Billy Bush as they rode in a bus for a television appearance by the real estate magnate. In the recording, Trump expounded on a failed attempt to seduce a married woman.

But it was Trump's comments during he expressed a sense of entitlement to grope women that unleashed a tidal wave of condemnation. "And when you're a star, they let you do it," he said about kissing and groping women without their consent. "You can do anything."

Reaction from Democrats was immediate and predictably falling along party lines. What is more striking is the response from fellow Republicans nationwide, most of them repudiating Trump's comments without qualification.

The Texas Tribune received one such statement from Will Hurd, the U.S. Representative for Texas's 23rd congressional district, which stretches across a span of 800 miles, from San Antonio to El Paso, along the U.S.-Mexican border.

"I find Donald Trump's comments that were released today to be utterly sickening and repulsive for all women and Americans," Hurd said in a prepared statement. "As a proud son of a wonderful mother, the brother of a strong and successful sister, the uncle to four beautify nieces, I am ashamed that any person, much less a nominee for President of the United States, would speak that way of women. We deserve better."

But Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who was named Trump's campaign chairman in Texas last month, tried a more nuanced response. Rather than rebuking Trump's comments and leaving it there, he took the opportunity to attack his opponent.

"There is absolutely no excuse to ever talk about women in such a crude and demeaning way," Patrick said via Twitter. "He was certainly right to apologize. But we can't let this firestorm distract voters from the frightening, policies revealed today in the WikiLeaks of Hillary's emails, including her 'dream' of 'open trade and open borders,' which would spell run for the future of our country."

In his statement, Patrick referenced a first stab at an apology by Trump just moments after the video surfaced. In that original written apology, Trump categorized the lewd conversation as mere "locker-room anter," saying he apologized if anyone had been offended. In his brief pseudo-apology for the comments, Trump added that Bill Clinton previously shared stories of an more lewd nature with him on the golf course.

Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell wouldn't have it, leading the Republican charge for Trump to issue a sincere apology without qualifiers while calling the GOP nominee's comments "repugnant and unacceptable."

Shortly after midnight EST, that second apology came as Trump issued a video statement expressing fuller contrition. But again, he took time to minimize the impact of his words by categorizing them as "nothing more than a distraction" while also taking jabs at his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, and her husband.

"I’ve never said I’m a perfect person, nor pretended to be someone that I’m not," Trump began. "I’ve said and done things I regret, and the words released today on this more than a decade-old video are one of them. Anyone who knows me, know these words don’t reflect who I am. I said it, it was wrong, and I apologize."

Then, he pivoted from what pundits said should've been a simple apology: "This is nothing more than a distraction from the important issues we are facing today. We are losing our jobs, we are less safe than we were 8 years ago and Washington is broken.Hillary Clinton, and her kind, have run our country into the ground."

For good measure, he took another jab at Bill Clinton while referencing his history of infidelity: "Bill Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims," Trump said in what was billed as his second apology for the video. "We will discuss this more in the coming days."

Trump ended his videotaped apology with: "See you at the debate on Sunday," referring to next week's second presidential debate to be moderated by Anderson Cooper of CNN. In what should've been a do-over after the failed first apology, Trump instead was palpably defiant with the actual apology part taking less time than the out-of-context attacks (given such unprecedented circumstances) on his political rivals.

Late Saturday, Gov. Greg Abbott -- an ardent Trump supporter -- repudiated the comments of his party's nominee for president. Abbott was among the state's top Republicans who didn't immediately issue a statement. "Deeply disturbing rhetoric by Trump," Abbott said in his tweet. "An insult to all women & contrary to GOP values. Absent true contrition, consequences will be dire."

Rep. Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and part of Trump's national security advisory panel, condemned the comments: “As the father of five children, including four daughters, I find Donald Trump's comments reprehensible and unacceptable,” McCaul said in a written statement. “This is not an example we should set for our children, or an image we should project of our country.”

The reaction from Rep. Kay Granger (R-Fort Worth) was the strongest of them all, asking Trump to step down from consideration in the wake of the video's emergence: "We have heard rumors about the insensitive and vulgar things Mr. Trump says about women," Granger said in a statement to The Texas Tribune. "But watching that video is disgusting. Mr. Trump should remove himself from consideration as Commander in Chief."

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, the senior senator from Texas and the current Senate majority whip, issues a tweeted statement on Saturday morning condemning Trump's comments. His statement was a two-parter, his words coming in a pair of tweets: "I am disgusted by Mr. Trump's words about women: our daughters, sisters and mothers," Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, wrote. "And I am profoundly disappointed by the race to the bottom this presidential campaign has become."

The other U.S. Senator from Texas, Ted Cruz, did issue a statement in response to the video. In fact, he made two, via Twitter. The first: "Every wife, mother, daughter -- every person -- deserves to be treated with dignity and respect." Cruz's second Tweet on the matter: "These comments are disturbing and inappropriate, there is simply no excuse for them."

It's unclear if Cruz would rescind his recent endorsement of Trump as a result of the video, as other Republicans from others already have done. Cruz was booed off the stage during this summer's GOP Republican Convention in Cleveland for not offering a customary endorsement of the party's nominee, but instead urging the crowd to "vote your conscience."
Cruz later explained he refused to be a "servile puppy dog" to Trump, adding he could not bring himself to endorse a man who had insulted both his wife and father in the heat of the primary campaigns from which Trump emerged as the party's nominee.

But then, last month, Cruz did a 180-degree turn in offering his endorsement of Trump after all. This week, he went further in his support of Trump, allowing himself to be filmed in a short video snippet of him working the phones in calling registered voters to drum up support for Trump.

The video has since been taken down, but not before others appropriated it for the purposes of mockery on social media.

The implications of Trump's words from 2010 are still being sussed out in Texas and beyond -- not just for the future of his own campaign but on the impact the video might have on fellow Republicans hoping to hold on to their seats in Congress come November.

One thing is clear: The emergence of the video is making for some awkward hemming and hawing back in Texas. Cruz may be the epitome of the awkwardness, but the ripple effects of the video have swept over the Texas political landscape with the sudden and unexpected force of a Texas tornado.

>>> Image via Gage Skidmore, Flickr, used under Creative Commons

Note: This story has been updated to reflect comments by Gov. Greg Abbott, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Rep. Mike McCaul and Sen. Kay Granger.