Last night, as I slipped between the sheets, I started laughing out loud...possibly because it seemed easier than crying out loud.  Like everybody else, I had learned hours before about Trump's sexually charged misogynistic tape.  We need look no farther for an "October surprise."  Hillary's dedicated diggers have finally hit pay dirt.  The shovels will be put aside, and the smutty unearthed relic will dominate the rest of the election cycle.

Even the latest Wikileaks revelations of a two-faced Hillary – promising one thing and doing another, badmouthing Sanders supporters, etc. – will be dismissed by Camp Clinton as nothing more than the inauthentic meddling of a Russian regime in cahoots with a U.S. presidential candidate who hates women and taxes but loves a bully like Putin.

So what's to laugh about?  Well, maybe it's the yuuuge, ironic farce that's been sucking up needless time and endless money for at least sixteen months, starting, innocently enough, with the majority of Republicans' deep-seated disgust for the status quo and their sincere desire for "change."

Well, we got it, all right.  We so badly wanted an outsider to lead us to a brighter future that we didn't bother to look back at his dim past.  Many of us assumed that a charismatic celebrity like Trump would be just the ticket to upset a liberal icon like Hillary.  We pictured the reality show star striding into the corridors of power and bringing all the ineffective "apprentices" to heel.  Trump was not a career politician, after all, so he had undergone no previous vetting.  If he swept a lot of us off our feet with his forthright manner, it was only because the other fifteen or so Republican wannabes hadn't managed to do so.

Many GOP bigwigs who had already distanced themselves from the standard-bearer now feel justified in suggesting that he step aside.  Some may even wish, if not propose, that the auditions of the primary season be replayed, with somebody else awarded the title role.  After a brilliant debate, Mike Pence finds himself in an unenviable position.  He's a straight arrow who had previously given Trump's personal peccadilloes the benefit of the doubt.

But there is no rewinding the election clock.  Hillary's reset button didn't work with Vladimir, and a similar device won't work for Republicans.  As Lady Macbeth wailed, "what's done is done … and cannot be undone."  What might more likely be "undone" is the GOP's chance to reclaim the White House and maybe even to retain control of the Senate.

In spite of such a calamitous prospect, I find solace in showing a sense of humor...and maybe even an improbable sense of satisfaction.  After all, it's been a long while since the GOP put a Bad Boy out there.  After all, we're supposed to be the party that promotes good, clean fun – not smarm.  We strive to settle on candidates who are upstanding, squeaky-clean, tithe-paying guys like Romney; movie white-hatters like Reagan; war heroes like McCain, Dole, and Ike.  Our America is the Shining City on a Hill, not a cesspool masquerading as a Trump Tower moat.

On the one hand, I want to shout, "Damn you, Donald!  We had such high hopes!"  Yet on the other hand, I feel a curious sense of brashness due to the fact that the GOP improbably stepped out of its predictable mold of lofty expectations.  Frankly, it's nice for a change to be a less than holier-than-thou political entity sanctimoniously standing at arm's length from human frailties and foibles.

As expected, I have already begun to feel the smug fallout from Democrat friends and family.  That in itself is comical, since nothing is more ludicrous than a liberal's pretensions of piety.  The same crowd that excused Bill Clinton from his gross physical affronts against women are quick to express outrage at remarks made by Trump over a decade ago.  This does not excuse The Donald by any means, but it points out the hypocrisy of those who would defeat him at any cost.

I am disappointed in Trump, but there is already enough derision for him without my piling on.  As for the network news media, they must be licking their chops, one reason being that tonight's TV town hall meeting should rake in an even bigger viewership than the opening debate.  Even if Trump contritely apologizes, it will be interesting to see whether anything can move the needle from his telltale tape to some other issues that may still matter.