Trump's Women issues; do we really care?

I welcome the rising chorus opposed to the continued candidacy of Donald Trump. I do so, however, with some skepticism and a number of questions.

This man has placed himself on unvarnished public display for 40 years. He has been campaigning for 16 months. During that time, he has routinely displayed himself to be a vulgar lout filled with disdain and contempt for others. 

If you have never seen a minute of The Apprentice, Access Hollywood or listened to Howard Stern, it would still be virtually impossible not to be aware of Trump’s base attitudes towards women in particular.

So, why has the release of a single Hollywood access tape been a tipping point for so much of the electorate? Is it simply because the recorded language was so raw and callous? Has his everyday speech prior to this latest disclosure really been insufficient to reveal his complete lack of respect for woman and virtually everyone else of a different race, religion or creed?

Is the current outcry merely because it was disclosed so near to an election that many have been ignoring? 

Is it because his vulnerability as a candidate has emboldened segments of the electorate to speak out against this man who is so perilously close to the White House?

If Trump was leading in the polls but the alleged transgressions proved true, would the Republican party continue to support his candidacy? Are the denunciations from the more moderate factions of that party a sincere reaction to what is on the tapes or simply a convenient, and hypocritical excuse to step away from a flailing campaign?

Will a Republican repudiation of Trump be seen as a betrayal by the millions who voted for him in the primaries and whose support inexplicably continues notwithstanding the latest revelations?

Will Republicans attempt to heal the schism and reconcile the bitterly opposed factions within their party? Will they continue to court those who embrace Trumpism, beyond the cult of his personality, or reject them in favor of seeking new ways to expand their base?

What are the limits of the public and private conduct we willing to tolerate from our public officials, candidates and public figures? 

Any pretense we have to being a civil society depends upon our ability for truthful self-examination and resolution of these questions.  

HL October 9, 2016

Postscript: Now that he has been elected, those questions have been answered. For far too many of us, the truth is that, as long as we get what we want, we truly don't care.   2.21.17