Chrissie Thompson

cthompson@usatoday.com

To John Kasich, Saturday had been coming for a long time.

On the eve of the second presidential debate, four days before the early-voting kickoff in swing-state Ohio, the GOP was in crisis.

Governors and congressional Republicans were starting to pull their endorsements of the party’s presidential pick, Donald Trump. Republican officials had huddled, then broke, then rehuddled, deliberating whether they should somehow try to replace Trump – with less than five weeks to go, after some states had started voting.

In Ohio, Republicans censured Trump, but backed him – even U.S. Sen. Rob Portman. GOP officials could rescind endorsements if they wanted, the state party chairman said. The state waited.

At issue: A 2005 video, leaked to the Washington Post, in which Trump used lewd, profanity-laced comments to describe women and his behavior toward them.

But it wasn’t just the Post story that was causing the GOP implosion. It was the likelihood that, despite Trump’s insistence “these words don’t reflect who I am,” more would come. The likelihood that this was exactly who Trump was.

I told you so, Kasich said.

"Nothing that has happened in the last 48 hours is surprising to me or many others. Many people were angry and questioned why I would not endorse Donald Trump or attend the Republican Convention. I’ve long had concerns with Donald Trump that go beyond his temperament," said the Ohio governor in a statement, noting Trump's "disqualifying policy positions."

"It's clear that he hasn't changed and has no interest in doing so. As a result, Donald Trump is a man I cannot and should not support. The actions of the last day are disgusting, but that’s not why I reached this decision,” he added. He had never endorsed Trump, but he made it official: He won’t vote for his party’s nominee.

He also won’t vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton, a spokesman said.

Republicans consider Clinton their arch-enemy. She’s worse than Trump, even the Trump in the video, many insist.

Perhaps that’s why nearly all the Ohio Republicans who had endorsed Trump stuck to that position Saturday. In the end, only two withdrew their support.

'Amounts to sexual assault'

Officials around the state did condemn Trump’s remarks in the 2005 video.

But these weren’t just offensive comments about women. Trump’s remarks described behavior.

In the video, he bragged about kissing women without stopping to “wait.” Women let a “star” like Trump do whatever he wants, he said, including grabbing their genitals.

Although Trump didn’t describe any particular situation, the kind of behavior he spoke of is exactly what colleges and assault-prevention groups counsel against.

Because sexual contact against someone’s wishes can be ruled illegal, in Ohio and elsewhere.

Ask any college student: That’s why you get consent.

“Consent is a critical component of (sexual violence) prevention: It empowers people with foundational skills for healthy relationships built on communication, respect and equality,” said Katie Hanna, executive director of the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence.

So when Trump bragged about moving in to kiss and grab, he lost one of his most reticent Ohio supporters, former Never Trumper Dave Yost.

"The conduct he laughingly describes ... amounts to sexual assault," the state's auditor, a former prosecutor and a likely 2018 candidate for attorney general, said in a statement. He called on Trump to withdraw from the race.

This election already has had so much crazy stuff it's hard to remember it all. But it's not like Trump can just move past this one.

Disagree?

In Trump's initial, qualified apology Friday afternoon, he defended his remarks as "locker room banter."

If women, who make up a majority of voters, were on the fence with Trump, he’s lost them now.

As Warren County state Sen. Shannon Jones, a Republican who has never backed Trump, tweeted:

The battle to preserve the GOP

Last week, Trump's bid to win Ohio's voters – the voters every Republican president has needed to get to the White House – seemed far from lost. Several recent polls had him leading by small margin. One gave Clinton a slight edge.

But as Saturday drew to a close, the concern for Republicans was no longer whether they would win Ohio. The party's preservation is at stake.

"No woman should ever be described in these terms or talked about in this manner. Ever," said Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus, who generally had found a way to back the nominee amid past controversies, on Friday night. Then he went silent, as the party reportedly began to pull resources from Trump's campaign and direct them to other races.

Here's the problem for Republicans: If it becomes clear their party has no viable candidate to challenge Clinton, Republican voters may stay home on Election Day. And if, by an extreme long shot, that candidate isn't Trump, his most passionate supporters likely will stay home too. The result could be landslide Democratic wins in Congress.

Portman's double-digit lead over former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, for instance, could evaporate.

When Portman responded to the Trump video on Friday, he reacted similarly to the way he responded to Trump's other controversies. "The comments were offensive and wrong and he was right to apologize," he said in a statement.

Censure, but keep the endorsement. That's one way Portman, of Terrace Park, had helped build his lead over Strickland, winning over nearly all of Trump's voters and some of Clinton's voters.

But as a mounting number of congressional Republicans pulled their endorsements Saturday, it was clear Portman would do so as well. He finally followed suit at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, late enough for the news to miss his hometown print newspaper's Sunday readers.

(Strickland's campaign, seeing an opening, pounced. His spokesman called Portman's change of heart Saturday night "a craven and political attempt to save his own skin.")

Rob Portman: 'I can no longer support' Donald Trump

Even as Trump's support from GOP officials evaporates, he appears prepared to fight.

"Bill Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims," Trump said in his second apology, after midnight on Saturday, foreshadowing a possible approach in Sunday night's debate.

Later Saturday, he shared supportive tweets from Juanita Broaddrick, who in 1999 claimed she had been raped by then-state Attorney General Bill Clinton at a Little Rock hotel in 1978. Clinton's attorney denied the claim at the time, and he was never charged. To Broaddrick, and to many Trump supporters, Clinton's continued support of her husband justifies his alleged behavior.

Could he drop out?

Other defections from Trump are coming among Ohio Republicans, said Matt Borges, chairman of the state party. He freed Republicans to follow their consciences on Trump, without facing repercussions from the state party. Still, he said, Trump appears to be on the ticket to stay.

Despite an open debate over whether Trump should drop out of the race, early voting has already started in many states. Ballots have been printed in others. The GOP might have some recourse in some states if Trump were to withdraw, but he vowed to remain, over and over Saturday – an assertion his supporters cheered.

Elections experts speculated over situations in which Trump could agree to allow his disillusioned running mate, Mike Pence, to act as president or in which people who vote in the electoral college could cast their votes for another Republican. But none seemed likely to win over the swaths of Americans needed to defeat Clinton.

And in any case, Trump would have to agree to any option.

Questions about forcing a replacement for Trump arose after the Democratic convention, when he feuded with the family of a Muslim U.S. soldier killed in Iraq. "These issues were looked at after the convention," Borges said. "There's no process. There's no recourse. There's no path for that to even occur."

As for Ohio Republicans' joint response to Trump, the state party never voted to endorse him, although most officials more or less got on board.

Local GOP -- except Portman -- stands by Trump

"I think everybody knows what my preference was throughout the entire process," Borges told The Enquirer Friday night. He backed Kasich in the GOP primary but has helped the Trump campaign set up in Ohio.

At home, it was a different story. Borges' his wife, Kate, hadn't gotten behind the controversial billionaire, and Borges this week admitted she would not let him put a Trump sign in their Columbus-area yard.

"How about Kate Borges seeming like the smartest person on earth right now? Besides being married to me," Borges said Friday night. "Let’s just say that yard sign ain’t getting in my lawn anytime soon, or probably ever."

Deirdre Shesgreen and the Associated Press contributed to this story.

Trump apologizes for video bragging about groping women