Fear: Trump in the White House

Two hours later, Melania Trump released a statement: “The words my husband used are unacceptable and offensive to me. This does not represent the man that I know. He has the heart and mind of a leader. I hope people will accept his apology, as I have, and focus on the important issues facing our nation and the world.”

At 3:40 p.m., Trump tweeted, “The media and establishment want me out of the race so badly—I WILL NEVER DROP OUT OF THE RACE, WILL NEVER LET MY SUPPORTERS DOWN! #MAGA”

Trump took a seat. Preparations for the ABC interview were in motion—it was likely to be a record-breaker. Giuliani and Christie handed a sheet of their suggestions to Trump.

Trump read: “My language was inappropriate, not acceptable for a president.” It was political speak—not Trump, all Giuliani and Christie. Trump was surly.

“I can’t do this,” he said. “This is bullshit. This is weak. You guys are weak.”

Bannon realized he had this one. He just had to keep his mouth shut.

“Donald, you don’t understand,” Christie said.

“Donald, Donald, Donald,” Giuliani said. “You’ve got to do this.” Think about the suburban moms.

The clock was ticking.

Bannon turned to Conway. “What do you do to kill this?”

“You can’t kill it,” she replied. “They’re already here”—ABC and David Muir.

“What do you do to kill it?” Bannon repeated.

“All my credibility is on the line. You can’t kill this thing. It’s in motion. It’s going to happen,” Conway said.

“It’s not going to happen,” Bannon said. “He ain’t going to do it. If he does do an introduction,” Bannon continued, “you can’t have him do a live interview. He’ll fucking get cut to pieces.” The apology road was not Trump, and if he was questioned afterward he would backtrack and contradict himself.

They tried to reword it.

Trump went through two lines.

“I’m not doing this.”

The glass in Trump Tower was thick, but they could hear the roaring crowd of Trump supporters in the street—a riot of “deplorables,” who had adopted Hillary Clinton’s derisive term as their own.

“My people!” Trump declared. “I’m going to go down. Don’t worry about the rally. I’m going to do it right here.”

“You’re not going down there,” a Secret Service agent insisted. “You’re not going outside.”

“I’m going downstairs,” Trump said. He headed out. “This is great.”

Conway tried to intervene. “You just can’t cancel” on ABC.

“I don’t care. I’m never doing this. It was a dumb idea. I never wanted to do it.”

Bannon was about to follow Trump into the elevator when Christie said, “Hang on for a second.”

He stayed back as Trump went downstairs with Conway, Don Jr. and the Secret Service.

“You’re the fucking problem,” Christie said to Bannon. “You’ve been the problem since the beginning.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re the enabler. You play to every one of his worst instincts. This thing’s over, and you’re going to be blamed. Every time he’s got terrible instincts for these things, and all you do is get him all worked up. This is going to be humiliating.”

Christie was in Bannon’s face, looming large. Bannon half-wanted to say, You fat fuck, let’s throw down right here.

“Governor,” he replied instead, “the plane leaves tomorrow.” They were heading to St. Louis for the second presidential debate. “If you’re on the plane, you’re on the team.”

Downstairs, the Secret Service relented. Trump could go out on the street, but only briefly. There could be weapons all over the place. It was a baying mob of supporters and protesters.

At 4:30 p.m. Trump stepped out, giving high fives and shaking hands for a few minutes, flanked by the Secret Service and New York police.

Will you stay in the race? a reporter asked.

“One hundred percent,” Trump said.

Everyone on the Trump campaign refused to appear on the Sunday-morning talk shows except Rudy Giuliani. Priebus, Christie, even the reliable, thick-armored, never-say-no Conway had been scheduled. All canceled.

Giuliani appeared on all five, completing what is called a full Ginsburg—a term in honor of William H. Ginsburg, the attorney for Monica Lewinsky, who appeared on all five network Sunday programs on February 1, 1998.

Giuliani gave, or tried to give, the same spiel on each show: Trump’s words had been “reprehensible and terrible and awful,” and he had apologized. Trump was not the same man now that he had been when captured on tape in 2005. The “transformational” presidential campaign had made him a changed man. And besides, Hillary Clinton’s speeches to Goldman Sachs, which had come out in WikiLeaks’s release of John Podesta’s emails, revealed a private coziness with Wall Street that clashed with her liberal public positions. The country would view that much more harshly.

Bannon, not a regular viewer of Sunday talk shows, tuned in. The morning was a brutal slog. When CNN’s Jake Tapper said Trump’s words had been a depiction of sexual assault that was “really offensive on just a basic human level,” Giuliani had to acknowledge, “Yes, it is.”