We’ve reached Day 85 of the hostage crisis known as the Donald Trump nomination. And he’s threatening to start shooting the captives.

The “hostages” are Republicans running for office this year. They now find themselves torn between two bad options: to abandon the top of their ticket or to embrace the nominee.

Their decision was only made harder when, on the heels of the “Access Hollywood” scandal, Speaker Paul Ryan announced that he would focus his time on re-electing congressional Republicans, not on electing Donald Trump.

This snub sent Trump on a rampage. “It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday. Then, he went after Ryan’s signature legislation. “By the way,” Trump said on Fox News, “very, very bad budgets.”

By Wednesday, he was suggesting Ryan had made some “sinister deal” with the establishment.