AFTER a bruising workout in the primaries, both parties are supposed to clank back into line for the general election. The losers and maimed quell their sniffling for the sake of unity. But that is not happening for Donald Trump. As Republican congressmen and senators returned to Capitol Hill on May 10th, the ranks backing the party’s prospective nominee looked ragged and querulous.

Many Republican congressmen have held off endorsing Mr Trump, including their leader, Paul Ryan, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, who has declared himself “just not ready” to. Other Republican leaders, including two former presidents, George Bush senior and junior, a handful of senators, such as Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and at least one governor, Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, have said they will never back him. ‘Sometimes there’s a stink you just can’t wash off, kinda like a venereal disease,” said a Republican congressman. “That’s the problem Trump’s got.” There is muttering of mutiny, perhaps a rallying around an alternative leader. Senator Ted Cruz, who suspended his campaign after Mr Trump trounced him in Indiana, hinted on May 10th that he might reactivate it.

This is at once unprecedented and predictable. No presidential nominee has shown such contempt for his party’s verities as Mr Trump has. While professing to admire Ronald Reagan, he castigates free trade, vows to defend Social Security and apologises for Vladimir Putin. He has also missed no opportunity to belittle his Republican confrères.

Asked, in an interview with The Economist, which brand was more powerful, the Republicans or his own, he responded by noting that a television debate he had appeared in was watched by 24m people; “Massive, massive show—biggest show in the history of cable. If I wasn’t in it, they would’ve had 3m-4m, if that.” Responding to Mr Ryan, he has declared himself “not ready to support Speaker Ryan’s agenda” which, he implied, ran contrary to the interests of Americans, who “have been treated so badly for so long.” That was less a snippy rejoinder than a statement of war. It identified the prospective Republican nominee with those—around half the Republican electorate, according to recent exit polls—who say they feel “betrayed” by their party.

As The Economist went to press on May 12th, Mr Trump and Mr Ryan were due to hold peace talks. The impression of a party in meltdown is helping neither. Despite his braggadocio, Mr Trump needs Mr Ryan’s help to raise money—he says he may need $1.5 billion—and to turn out the conservative vote in November. There are not enough aggrieved Republicans to give him victory; Mr Trump needs all Republicans—including those, roughly a quarter of the total in recent primary exit polls, who currently say they will not vote for him.