Modern feminist-flavored conventional wisdom held that one simply can't be caught on tape bragging about a policy of getting aggressively handsy with women at random and getting away with it on account of being famous, which is what Trump essentially said, and win a presidential election.

In perhaps the most audacious gambit in campaign history, instead of doing what any crisis PR consultant would have advised — calling a press conference with Melania at his side, looking like a dour whipping boy, apologizing for his transgressions against social norms — Trump instead invited all of Bill Clinton's accused rapists to the Hillary debate, sat them in the front row, pointed them out, and stalked her like an absolute savage the entire debate.