Can Donald Trump recover from this?

Donald Trump's October Surprise is so explicit, shocking, offensive and vile that even he felt the need to apologize -- defiantly.

In a video released after midnight Saturday, Trump expressed regret for stunning comments that surfaced Friday about women.

"Anyone who knows me knows these words don't reflect who I am," he said. "I said it. I was wrong. And I apologize."

But that step -- unprecedented for a candidate loathe to ever admit a mistake -- may not be enough to rescue a campaign that is now in a full-fledged crisis. And Trump quickly attempted to pivot, criticizing Bill and Hillary Clinton in the video and suggesting he would take that argument to Sunday's debate.

"Bill Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims," Trump said. "We will discuss this more in the coming days. See you at the debate on Sunday."

Trump's candidacy has revealed a long history of demeaning and shaming women. But the comments that emerged Friday go further than anything that has been attributed to him before as he seemed to bask in the power he felt his celebrity conferred to do whatever he wanted with women.

The bombshell couldn't come at a worse time for Trump's campaign as he prepares for the next debate against Clinton. And Republicans must now decide whether to stand by him or cut him loose just 32 days before the election.

The debate, co-moderated by CNN's Anderson Cooper, is especially crucial because Trump botched his first match with Clinton — and then spent the next two weeks in a cycle of recrimination, denial and feud with former Miss Universe Alicia Machado.

The political uproar over the latest revelation was so momentous that it overtook coverage of a hurricane lashing Florida and a stunning US government accusation of a Russian hacking operation to disrupt the elections.

It has been one of the cliches of the 2016 presidential race that Trump can get away with comments and outrages that would sink any normal politician. But the video tests the limits of that assumption in a way unlike any of Trump's many previous controversies.

In a hot mic conversation first published by The Washington Post, Trump is seen and heard telling "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush in 2005 of how he tried to "fuck" a married woman.

"I moved on her and I failed. I'll admit it," Trump said. "I did try and fuck her. She was married."

"I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn't get there. And she was married," Trump adds, after saying he took the woman -- who is identified only by her first name -- out furniture shopping.

"Then all of a sudden I see her, she's now got the big phony tits and everything. She's totally changed her look," Trump says of the woman.

Before Trump stepped off a bus, he and Bush appear to see a soap actress who greets them.

"Whoa!" Trump says. "I've gotta use some tic tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful -- I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait."

"And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything ... Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything," Trump says.

Huddling on a path forward

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http://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/07/politics/donald-trump-campaign-crisis/index.html