Jon Ralston

They came to bury Trump, and they expect praise.

They are all honorable men, these elected officials in the Nevada GOP, who bravely decided after all of this time that Donald Trump is unfit for office. And like their counterparts across the country, they are trying to kill Trump to avoid their own funerals.

The day after the tape emerged showing Trump sounding like a sexual predator and just a few hours after he apologized in a video in which he was held hostage by a teleprompter, Reps. Joe Heck and Cresent Hardy disavowed him Saturday at a Southern Nevada rally, ironically standing near the man who lost the last presidential race, Mitt Romney. They joined a countrywide chorus of Louis Renaults, shocked, shocked to discover Trump is a sociopath.

Nevada Republicans say they won't support Trump

Heck, who also called for Trump to quit the race, declared: “I believe any candidate for President of the United States should campaign with common ethical and moral values and decency. I accept that none of us are perfect. However, I can no longer look past this pattern of behavior and inappropriate comments from Donald Trump.”

Hardy echoed him, saying, “I think that when we degrade that mother, wife, housewife, whatever you want to deal with, daughter — that you degrade America."

Also at the rally, Sen. Dean Heller sputtered nonsense, saying he is “100 percent against Clinton, 99 percent against Trump,” as reported by PolitFact’s Riley Snyder. Now THAT is Jabberwocky.

Finally, Gov. Brian Sandoval, who may well never be on the ballot again and has acted like a Danish Shakespearean character all year, weighed in, saying, “This video exposed not just words, but now an established pattern which I find to be repulsive and unacceptable for a candidate for President of the United States. I cannot support him as my party's nominee."

Just look at the words they all used and see the blatant hypocrisy unmasked, the foundation of their arguments crumble. They even talked about Trump’s pattern of behavior, an admission of their guilt; they all should be convicted of failed leadership followed by rank opportunism.

It wasn’t repulsive enough to the governor of Mexican heritage when Trump announced in June 2015 and talked about Mexican rapists and murderers and later when he smeared a judge of Mexican descent?

Here is the list of Republicans who are not supporting Trump

It wasn’t lacking ethical and moral decency for the congressman cum brigadier general when Trump derided John McCain’s service, saying he likes his heroes not to be captured, or when he claimed to have raised money for veterans that he did not?

It didn’t degrade women enough for the rookie congressman when Trump alluded to Megyn Kelly’s menstruation or called Rosie O’Donnell a “fat pig” or criticized a former Miss Universe for gaining weight?

It would fill up too much internet bandwidth to list all of the Trumpian depredations that should have led these men to disavow the GOP nominee long ago. These were disqualifying acts then just as the videotaped comments are now.

They can say this is much worse because Trump essentially says he committed sexual assault, but is that the standard these elected officials use? I will support him despite his misogyny, nativism and racism, but this is a bridge too far? This is what they considered praiseworthy?

The irony here, of course, is while this is purely political and temporal — exactly two weeks before early voting begins — this is a no-win situation for them. But by lying down with Trump for so long, they have made their own bed.

You saw it Saturday morning when Heck made his declaration and received some boos from the crowd. This is a microcosm of the Republican Party, which has a sizable portion of Trump supporters who see no evil, hear no evil, vote for evil. Heck needs them, which is partly why he held onto Trump for so long. And it is hard to believe that undecided or swing voters will now give Heck credit for this maneuver.

The Trump ship, already leaking from being upside down with women and swing voters, and disdained by about a quarter of GOP voters in most polls, is now in danger of sinking the Senate and House. Hence, the GOP mice who uttered barely a squeak of disapproval become the rats scurrying to escape. And you know what usually happens to them.

Trump's groping comments leave campaign in crisis

The fact is that Nevada’s Senate race is within the margin of error – Heck has a slight lead in most polls – and that the outcome could determine control of the Club of 100. Others are doing the same – New Hampshire’s Kelly Ayotte, for one – as national Republican leaders send out an SOS (Save Our Senate) as they see Trump as a lost cause.

One Democratic strategist telegraphed what is coming, telling me, “Voters are not stupid. They will see this as it is — a desperate attempt to part ways with someone who he sees imploding — particularly after the 30 times he said he supported him without question. And remember that there's ample evidence to demonstrate his prior support. What he has demonstrated, whether you are a Trump supporter or not, is that you can't trust him.”

And with Nevadans able to choose “none of these candidates,” Heck may find some of his votes bleeding into that column, especially if they see this as helping Hillary Clinton.

This is the natural consequence for all of them of putting party over country, clutching a nominee manifestly unqualified for the presidency. The races here all remain close, but this will be a factor up and down the ballot. There is no sudden absolution, no better-late-than-never medal for these men.

They will try to assuage their guilt, as Benjamin Braddock once did, by saying that having a brief love affair with Trump was nothing, didn’t mean anything, was like shaking someone’s hand. Well, gentlemen, you will have to excuse voters, after you have so debased yourselves, if they don’t want to shake your hand on Nov. 8.

Jon Ralston has been covering Nevada politics for more than a quarter-century and also blogs at ralstonreports.com.