"When Donald J. Trump promised to turn Muslims away from American shores, they wagged their fingers.
When he mimicked a journalist for his lifelong disability, they tsked-tsked.
When he mocked the mother of a valorous soldier killed in combat, they threatened to walk away from him.
But Republican leaders never did. They justified his behavior, they minimized his offenses, they excused his insults.
So why this?
Why did a decade-old three-minute video provoke a sudden revolt by party officials against their nominee, an uprising that could very well destroy their chances of taking the White House?
Because the glee with which he bragged about sexually assaulting women, by forcibly kissing them and grabbing their genitals, turned a boorish man into an outright predator.
Because the voice captured on a microphone and the face caught on camera are indisputably Mr. Trump’s, breaking through to a distrustful public that doubts much news media coverage but believes powerfully in what it can see and hear for itself.
Because it turns out that even the most self-interested members of the political class, the true weather vanes swinging in the wind, have their limits."
Donald Trump’s Conduct Was Excused Again and Again. But Not This Time. - The New York Times
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