When the time comes to write the story of the 2016 presidential campaign, historians should note that the key moment took place in the first Republican debate.
When Megyn Kelly of Fox News asked Donald Trump her first question- "You've called women you don't like 'fat pigs,' 'dogs,' 'slobs,' and 'disgusting animals.' Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president?” she was accused of grandstanding, of trying to make a name for himself, and for unfairly attacking Trump.
In retrospect, Kelly, who came under vicious attack from Trump and his supporters after her opening question, was able to see through right through the GOP nominee from the start.
No matter what happens next month, Donald Trump has been defined, likely forever, as someone with no respect for women.
And that is the way it has been seen ever since the Access Hollywood video outtakes were leaked to the Washington Post Friday.
One political figure after another, in both parties, has condemned Trump's demeaning comments about women, his bragging about making a play for a married woman, and his talk of how he used his wealth and his star power to get any woman he wanted.
Many of them referred to their daughters, their mothers, or their wives. How could they look them in the eyes if they did not rebuke his statement, they asked.
Every one of them missed the point.
It's not just daughters, mothers, and wives- it's sons, fathers, and husbands.
When we allow someone to demean, diminish, and bully anyone and fail to take a stand, we make it that much easier for others to follow the same path.
No doubt there are still many who find Donald Trump amusing, who revel in his defiance of political correctness, people who love to whoop and holler when Trump talks about the size of his hands, the heroism of John McCain, and belittles his opponents by giving them childish nicknames.
It is true that political correctness gets out of hand at times, but common courtesy, as lacking as it may be in politics, has never gone out of style.
What Donald Trump, in his first apology, described as "locker room talk," is a feeble attempt to make it look as if this is something all guys do.
It isn't, not even in the locker room.
Most men do not treat women in that fashion.
When Donald Trump treats women like possessions or playthings and shows no respect for them, he doesn't just diminish women- he diminishes all of us.