The Editorial Board

USA TODAY

Every once in a while, America's political leaders are confronted with a risk that doesn't come from enemies abroad, tragedies at home or even the bad ideas of their political opponents. The risk rises from within their own party. History recognizes the statesmen who put country first and punishes the small men who put partisanship over patriotism.

Republican Sens. Howard Baker and Barry Goldwater are remembered in Watergate for showing a power-abusing President Nixon the door. Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt's own vice president, John Nance Garner, is remembered for standing tall against FDR's plan to subvert the Supreme Court by packing it with extra appointees.

Now is the time for Republican leaders to choose how they will be remembered. Confronted with video evidence of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump bragging about attempted adultery and sexual assault, dozens of leaders have begun to peel away, including 2008 nominee John McCain and other senators and governors from across the country. They join Republicans who have never supported Trump, such as 2012 nominee Mitt Romney.

According to a USA TODAY Network survey, 26% of GOP governors and members of Congress are refusing to endorse Trump, who is manifestly unfit for the White House. But what about the other 74%?

Rep. Rohrabacher: Ignoring voters will destroy GOP

This should not be a difficult call. Before the Access Hollywood tape was leaked to The Washington Post, the real Donald Trump was obvious to anyone who cared to look. There were the attacks on Hispanics and Muslims, a decades-long record of contempt for women, a trail of lawsuits sparked by Trump's efforts to stiff small businesses and laborers, a half-dozen bankruptcies, and a tendency to compliment himself on the generous size of his manhood and his bravery in enjoying relations with dozens of women.

Despite all this, still at the billionaire real estate mogul's side are some of the party's most senior leaders — among them Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, attempting a spineless straddle denouncing Trump's atrocious words while not withdrawing their endorsements — and a shrinking cadre of officials, such as Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who continue to fully back Trump while awaiting the next humiliating revelation about their candidate's indefensible character.

Republicans need to think beyond the next four weeks and even beyond the next four years to the viability of their party.

Many GOP political leaders and average voters still stand by Trump out of the fear that Hillary Clinton could cement a liberal majority on the Supreme Court that would block Republican policy victories on abortion, gay marriage and the scope of government for decades. That's understandable, but it's also why Trump's character is so important. The former Democrat now leading the GOP ticket has changed positions on nearly two dozen political issues just during the span of his presidential campaign. There is little reason to believe that Trump stands for anything other than a desire to expand his own wealth and power.

Sticking with Trump in the hopes of getting a conservative Supreme Court or stopping a Hillary Clinton presidency could leave Republicans defending a president who not only undermines the values that Americans broadly share, but one who also betrays fundamental Republican beliefs. Already, Trump openly campaigns against many of the things that the GOP is for, including an assertive foreign policy, free trade and restrictions on runaway entitlement spending.

And what about the Christian conservatives who continue to prefer Trump? That people of faith should abide a man who has committed every sin in the book — greed, avarice, hubris, lust, adultery, wrath, spite and gluttony, to name a few — in the name of public policy sounds like a plot to undermine religion by subordinating it to politics.

Republicans considering their next move should think of an answer to the question they will surely face when constituents ask where they stood when Donald Trump embarked on his scorched earth rampage. It’s a pretty good bet that “cravenly calculating the most expedient action while undermining everything I have stood for in public service” won’t wash.

USA TODAY's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff. Most editorials are coupled with an opposing view — a unique USA TODAY feature.

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