Do Rats Get Adorable Little Lifeboats To Abandon Sinking Ships?

You've probably heard about the tape of Donald Trump saying Trumpy things. And now, at long last, it seems he has Finally Done It. Yes, as predicted by so many, he has Gone Too Far, and Republicans are making the decision of whether or not to jump ship. So if you choose "jocular discussion of sexual assault" in your Trump self-destruction pool, congratulations.

Observing liberals online, this lead to 24 hours of rejoicing, followed by anger that none of the other disgusting things he's done was enough to trigger such anger. If you are wondering why this was the final straw, here are some ideas:

• When you read or heard Trump's remarks you probably involuntarily pictured him doing the things he was talking about. And depending on your life experience and the literalness you took the remarks at, it was somewhere between bizarre and horrifying. But think back to that mental image and ask yourself, what colour is the woman?
• Notably, Trump made it clear it didn't matter if a woman was married. That allows old-fashioned men to take it personally, in a way that his insults against women don't.
• Republicans have been caught in a kind of Emperor's New Clothes situation with Trump, in which he holds so much sway over the party's voters that no one wants to point out that he's naked. This incident is the first that's big enough that people have the confidence to believe they won't be the only ones involved in the coup. Even as it is, we're seeing the wrath of Trump Nation. Republicans that criticised him are getting rude receptions at campaign events, and accusations of treason, and that's the ones that didn't actually pull their support.
• This leak is a great example of the "October Surprise." Elections are in November, and dropping big negative news just before the election gives the opponent little time to recover. What must have Republicans worried is that this leak came out on October 7, implying that there's plenty more to come. Indeed, people from The Apprentice claim there are.
• Keep in mind that the politicians will know things about the campaign that we don't. For instance, it's important to remember that the polls we see in the media are cheap things that are often not that accurate. The parties themselves do polling that's of much higher quality (which they keep to themselves.) So it's possible that Republicans knew the situation was bad even before this incident - say since the first debate - and had been looking for an excuse to jump ship.
• There were already several allegations of sexual assault against Trump, but they weren't getting much play in the media. We saw in the Bill Cosby situation that there was a turning point when the allegations went from being assumed unfounded and ignored, to widely believed. So there's a possibility of that pattern repeating itself with Trump, especially if anyone else feels empowered to step forward now.
• Keep in mind that Americans vote for lots of things at once, so voters will be selecting not only the president, but also representatives, and possibly senators, governors and other lower positions. Party leaders have to be concerned about Trump's effect on the other races. Even if he can ride an alt-right wave to victory, that would still turn people off of Republicans in general, or discourage traditional Republican supporters from showing up to the polls, thus hurting the party in all those other races. There's already word that the party is diverting money and effort away from the presidency and to other campaigns.