This is especially true since #TRE45ON was ferociously courting the fundies and alt-right evangelist cohort. No telling whether they would have abandoned him had they known about both the "grab them by the pussy" tape, and the boinking of "lewd women" while his lawful wife was home with a newborn would have influenced many of them, or not. Given history, my guess is not but he and his campaign didn't know that in 2016.
The pay-off was to influence the election. As we see, the deplorably idiotic MAGATs fell for it, and still are.