Trump attacked Democrats and others for bringing forth the allegations.

“They’re actually con artists, because they know how quality this man is, and they’ve destroyed a man’s reputation,” the president said. “They know it’s a big, fat con job. And they go into a room and I guarantee you they laugh like hell at what they’ve pulled off on you and on the public.”

Yet Trump refused to rule out withdrawing Kavanaugh’s nomination, and speculated about nominating a woman in Kavanaugh’s stead, even as the White House and Kavanaugh himself have spent the past 48 hours staunchly insisting that they will forge forward.

“I can’t tell you. I have to watch tomorrow,” he said. “I’m gonna see what happens tomorrow. I’m gonna be watching ... I’m gonna see what’s said.”

Conservative women are leading the defense of Kavanaugh.

Trump said that if George Washington himself were nominated, Democrats would vote against the father of the country. “Didn’t he have a couple of things in his past?” he said, seeming to acknowledge that Kavanaugh might have skeletons in his closet. Trump also bluntly explained his willingness to look past allegations for political expediency, pointing to his support of the former U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, who was accused of sexual misconduct with several young girls. “Roy Moore was a Republican candidate, and I would have rather had a Republican candidate win,” Trump said.

But it was Trump’s comments about the allegations against him that were the most bizarre. Each time a high-profile man is accused of sexual misconduct, it serves as a reminder that at least 19 women have brought allegations against the president himself. The official White House line is that all 19 are lying. The president went a step beyond that on Wednesday, claiming that the women were paid to lodge the claims, and that after several of them recanted, the media refused to cover it. There is no evidence for this; the claim is evidence of a president either increasingly untethered from reality or ever more willing to dissemble.

The appearance was Trump’s first extended solo press conference since February 2017, and it showed why he and his advisers wouldn’t want him answering questions in an open forum like this very often. The president is incapable of speaking on any story for long without turning the subject back to himself, often with disconcerting results, like his claim about the media conspiracy.

The accusations against Kavanaugh have already put the Republican Party in a difficult spot ahead of November’s midterm elections. Women are poised to be a crucial voting bloc, and Trump is unpopular with them—even in the context of Trump’s atrocious approval ratings. The GOP is trying to strike a balance of getting Kavanaugh through without appearing dismissive of sexual assault, and Trump’s rambling comments on Wednesday deepen the trouble. The press conference appeared to be disastrous for the president, for his party, and for Kavanaugh.