American Crude: The Washington Post yesterday released a 2005 recording of Donald Trump having a sexually crude conversation with television host Billy Bush about hitting on women, even while he was married to his current wife, Melania. He also talks about just grabbing a woman’s crotch, although that’s not the word he uses. Trump uses the F word and the P word, and the NY Times spells them out for you.

So far Trump has survived saying outrageous things, but this may be the moment when Republican politicians jump ship to save their political lives. Republican Chairman Reince Priebus said, “No woman should ever be described in these terms or talked about in this manner. Ever.”

In one exchange Trump described striking out with a woman. “I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there. And she was married,” Trump says. “Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything.”

Trump tells Bush, “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.”

He says fame lets him get away with it. “When you’re a star they let you do it,” Trump says “You can do anything.”

Bush, by the way, played along and never objected.

Trump dismissed it all in a statement saying, “This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course – not even close,” Trump said. “I apologize if anyone was offended.” Note that he didn’t apologize for saying it.

He later posted a video apology on his Facebook page saying, “Anyone who knows me knows these words don’t reflect who I am. I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize.”

The immediate collateral damage could fall on Billy Bush, who’s related to the political Bush family. He now hosts the third hour of NBC’s Today Show. Women viewers may not think he’s so cute anymore.

From Russia, With Love: After a series of attacks, including one on the Democratic National Committee, the Obama administration has formally accused the Russian government of computer hacks intended to influence the US elections.

A statement from the director of national intelligence, James Clapper Jr., and the Department of Homeland Security said, “We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities.” What they plan to do about it, they haven’t said. They can put sanctions on the Russians, or mess with their computers in return.

Hurricane: With more than 850 people listed as dead, the full devastation wreaked on Haiti by Hurricane Matthew is emerging. In the town of Jérémie, about 80 percent of the buildings were damaged or destroyed. Broken phone lines and collapsed bridges have cut off much of southern Haiti. Tens of thousands of people are believed to have been left homeless.

By late yesterday, Matthew was a Category 2. As the storm brushed along the East Coast of Florida and the Carolinas, about a million customers lost power and coastal roads were flooded.

Econ 101: The economy added 156,000 jobs last month, a few thousand less than expected, and the unemployment rate rose a tenth of a point to 5 percent. Analysts say the number of new jobs, while a mild disappointment, is evidence that the economy is chugging along.

Billy Goat: The Chicago Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants 1-0 last night with an eighth inning home run in the first game of their National League division series. The Chicago Cubs had the best regular season record in baseball and are in the playoffs hoping for their first World Series win since 1908. They’re trying to prove there’s no such thing as the curse of the billy goat. Look it up.

BookBeat: Adolph Hitler is old news, but a newly-published book has readers saying, “Hey, this sounds familiar.”

In “Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939,” the rising Hitler is described as the “Munich rabble-rouser,” a self-obsessed “clown,” and a dramatic narcissist with a “characteristic fondness for superlatives.” One of Hitler’s former finance ministers wrote that Hitler “was so thoroughly untruthful that he could no longer recognize the difference between lies and truth.”

Hmmm.

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