Republicans who can’t stand Trump face a difficult choice. If they publicly denounce him and go so far as to say they want Clinton to win, they risk retaliation from within the ranks of their own party. If they stay silent, they will have to live with the consequences and very likely their own guilty consciences. Elected officials have taken to saying things that sound strange and contradictory as a way of navigating that challenge. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have committed to supporting Trump, though they have also attempted to distance themselves from him—weakly opposing offensive episodes of the candidate’s own making without actually disavowing Trump himself.

It’s a strategy that risks damaging the credibility of anyone who pursues it—that is, if the credibility of Republican leaders has not already been irrevocably damaged. “There’s no way to lie down with somebody like Trump without getting fleas,” said Max Boot, a former foreign-policy adviser to Marco Rubio, Mitt Romney, and John McCain who has said he will vote for Clinton. “Being associated with him, I think, will do long-term damage to the Republican Party and to individual Republicans who have endorsed him.”

“The vast majority of Republicans in elected office are weak-kneed,” Elmets said. “That includes Speaker Ryan and Mitch McConnell, who are acting as if Donald Trump is simply an out-of-control toddler rather than potentially the next president of the United States.”

Conservative resistance to Trump, and the mixed reaction of scorn and admiration it has provoked from within the ranks of the Republican Party, is testament to the tumult on the political right. There will always be partisans who don’t want to fall in line behind their party’s presidential candidate. But the extent to which prominent Republicans are condemning Trump, and making clear that they would rather see Clinton win instead, is remarkable.

The Democrats certainly had their own high-profile Clinton critics—notably Bernie Sanders. But while there may be Democratic voters promising to leave the party and take their votes elsewhere, the anti-Clinton commentary from the upper-echelons of the Democratic Party has quieted down now that she has formally won the nomination. If any high-profile Democrats still have serious misgivings, they are doing a good job of hiding their doubts.

Making peace with the prospect of voting for Clinton won’t necessarily be easy for Republicans who refuse to vote for Trump. The former secretary of state, after all, is deeply unpopular in her own right. She has also been the target of Republican disdain and attacks for years. And yet, for some Republicans, it comes down to a clear moral choice. “It’s not enough to simply not support Trump,” said Charles Fried, a former solicitor general during the Reagan administration who intends to vote for Clinton. “It is imperative that this man not be allowed to get anywhere near the levers of power. He must be defeated, and the only way to do that is by supporting Hillary Clinton.”