Soon-to-be Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith

Have you ever wondered what Donald Trump thinks is worse than a child molester? As it turns out, it’s the Republican governor of Mississippi appointing a Republican official to replace a retiring Republican senator—because she was once a Democrat. In Mississippi … which is roughly the equivalent of being a moderate on the NRA’s board of directors:

White House officials this week told Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant that President Donald Trump did not plan to campaign for or endorse Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith if she was appointed to the state’s open Senate seat, saying they were worried that the former Democrat would lose.

Yep, this is the bridge too far.

Of course the real concern here is that Chris McDaniel, who has already announced his candidacy in the special election to replace soon-to-resign Sen. Thad Cochran, will split the vote with Hyde-Smith and wind up in a runoff with a Democratic contender. And why would Republicans be afraid of that? Because even they recognize that McDaniel is a far-right nutter—the charmer who was involved in pictures being taken of Cochran’s bedridden wife in a nursing home during his last (unsuccessful) bid for this seat, a race he still hasn’t conceded, four years later.

And the prospect of losing a senate seat in Mississippi, after losing one in Alabama late last year, would be more than the collective Republican heart could take:

Administration officials do not want Trump to embarrass himself by weighing in for a candidate who is seriously hobbled.

If only Hyde-Smith were a child molester or a Nazi. She’d have a first-class seat on the Trump train!