Waleed Aly's call to arms: "Donald Trump is no laughing matter."

“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. And when you’re a star they let you do it … Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.”

This weekend, a leaked recording whipped the Trump campaign into a frenzy and got the entire world talking.

In a 2005 interview with Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush, Donald Trump was captured referring to women as though they were magnetic objects with no other choice but be drawn towards him.

Tonight, The Project co-host Waleed Aly used this 11-year-old recording to illustrate how the Republican candidate truly perceives women — and why his possible Presidency is no laughing matter.

"The tape allowed us to hear what Donald Trump sounds like when he's literally behind closed doors," Waleed began the segment, which he co-wrote with The Project’s Managing Editor Tom Whitty.

"That's sexual assault. And this is the moment. This is the moment that everything we've suspected about Donald Trump was confirmed. The predatory nature. The privilege. The sexism. The double standard. The sinister motivation."

As Aly highlighted, this is not the first time Trump has come under fire.

"Donald Trump… is no laughing matter." (Image: Getty)

"People have rightly pointed out that Trump has said a lot of offensive things in the 11 years since that tape was recorded, many within the last 15 months of him running for president," he explained.

"I'm not talking about a dictator here; I'm talking about the Republican presidential candidate. He's told us Mexicans are rapists, he's encouraged violence at his rallies, he's called for a ban on the immigration of Muslims, he's aligned himself with white supremacists, he's advocated torture, and the murder of women and children in the hunt for terrorists."

These comments are disturbing, and yet since Trump announced he was running for President, the public has been compelled to react in one way: laughing at him. And it needs to stop.

"It seemed the only response appropriate for someone so ludicrous. And sure, satire can be an effective tool to reveal the limitations of our political leaders. But the problem in this case, is that we've been laughing when we should have been taking a breath," Aly stated.

"By treating Trump like a clown, we failed to recognise him as a potential president. We all need to change, me included. Because sexism is no laughing matter. Racism is no laughing matter. Inciting violence is no laughing matter.

"Sexual assault is no laughing matter. And for those reasons and sadly more, Donald Trump… is no laughing matter."