If the latest Progressive Conservative upheaval makes you want to heave, take heart. There’s a bright side to the party’s darkest hour.

Consider the zero-tolerance response to alleged sexual improprieties by ex-leader Patrick Brown here, versus the infinite tolerance for Donald Trump’s sexual misconduct over there.

I’m not talking about public opinion, which can be hard to measure at the best of times and more divided than we realize. Judging by the reaction to widely read and wildly popular columns by Rosie DiManno and Christie Blatchford holding out for a presumption of innocence, it seems Brown still has many sympathizers in Ontario (not me), just as Trump has his defenders across America (also not me).

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No, I’m talking about our political culture. The stories about Ontario Tories are not only destructive, but instructive.

So allow me to put in a good word about a provincial party in distress. And how some sensible party activists conducted themselves at a moment of maximum stress.

Remember how top U.S. Republicans responded to allegations of sexual misconduct by Trump? Despite some mumbled expressions of disgust and discomfort, they rallied round their man.

Never mind the credible allegations — and his own recorded admissions — of sexual assault (not least a detailed account by my former Toronto Star colleague, ex-People magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff). Republicans supported Trump back then so that he could bounce back to win the presidency, led by the party’s top official, Reince Priebus, who went on to become his first White House chief of staff.

Compare that performance to the revelations against Brown. At a critical moment, when the embattled PC leader tried to tough it out and bluff it out, his staff wouldn’t buy it, let alone back him.

Brown’s chief of staff as opposition leader, Alykhan Velshi, privately advised him to leave. So did two top officials at campaign headquarters. Within minutes of Brown’s pathetic public denials — announcing his “attorneys” would mount a legal counterattack — Velshi and the others announced they had already resigned (along with press secretary Nick Bergamini).

The senior staff quit because they didn’t believe their leader’s version of events stood up to scrutiny — their own, and the public’s. That set the stage for the PC caucus to confront Brown in a telephone conference call minutes later.

Shortly after midnight, it dawned on the leader he had no followers. It is a credit to Tory MPPs and senior staff that they acted decisively for the good of the party (and, one hopes, out of consideration to the aggrieved women), where hesitation could have done even greater harm.

In a mildly happy ending, both Velshi and Bergamini were hired back within days by Brown’s successor, PC interim leader Vic Fedeli. In what could have been a truly happy ending, caucus called for party unity by proposing that Fedeli lead them into the next election, with a regular leadership review later, when time permits.

A horse race if necessary, but not necessarily a horse race. Instead, the party executive — dominated by Brown cronies, notably the now disgraced party president Rick Dykstra (just-departed after allegations of sexual assault) — defied caucus pleas for solidarity by deciding to put the cart before the horse race.

With an election campaign less than 100 days away, the Tories are holding a leadership campaign of their own, more circus than contest. Now, the Tories are saddled with Doug Ford as their bright light, versus Caroline Mulroney as their invincible (if currently invisible) dark horse.

Ford’s resurgence reminds us that long before the rise of Trump, Torontonians elected his brother Rob as mayor. Yet the populism, nativism, nihilism and anti-elitism of Ford Nation may be the least of the party’s problems.

Turns out the political edifice that Brown built is a Potemkin house of cards, constructed on a foundation of fraudulent memberships and financial chicanery. Fedeli has belatedly bowed out of the race to focus, as interim leader, on cleaning up the internal “rot” bequeathed to him by Brown.

Beyond the “infighting” and the “chaotic time,” it’s far worse than Fedeli fathomed:

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“Fixing this, and it needs fixing, will be a massive undertaking — but it is absolutely essential,” he proclaimed this week. “I will root out any rot that has been manifesting itself . . . . I have ordered a complete investigation into the names and addresses of those 200,000 (party members).”

An internal investigation, followed by a cleanup of tainted membership lists, just in time for a leadership race, just ahead of an election to take the reins of government? I have a lot of faith in Fedeli, but I don’t believe in miracles — not even in politics.

This column began by praising the party of the right for doing the right thing at a tough time. But is there time enough to right a sinking ship, or have Ontario’s Tories missed the boat?

Martin Regg Cohn's political column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. mcohn@thestar.ca, Twitter: @reggcohn

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