The moral collapse of the Republican Party is a lesson in quantum mechanics: the collapse is still in progress, yet it has also already happened. The Party of Family Values has stood by President Trump as he unleashed the worst forces of racism and nativism on the right, and after he admitted to committing sexual assault on tape. Republicans have allowed him to wage war on the rule of law, and on the norms governing our democracy. They will work with him to pass a tax bill that catastrophically exacerbates the income inequality that has left everyday Americans without hope, fueling the anxiety and extremism of this political era. They will do it having held no public hearings, passing a Senate bill covered in chicken scratch in the dead of night and lying about what's in it all the way through.

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But there is no greater example of the party's moral decay than the Senate candidacy of Roy Moore, the man accused of sexual misconduct by eight different women, many of whom say they were under 18 at the time. One says she was 14 years old when a 32-year-old Moore lured her to his house and tried to get her to touch his genitals through his tighty-whities. He was reportedly banned from the local mall because he kept creeping on young girls, including a Santa's helper. A local cop was instructed to keep him away from the cheerleaders at high school football games. He himself admits he first saw his wife, Kayla, whom he married when she was 23, "eight years" before at a dance recital. That would have made her 15 at the time. She was in the same high school class as Leigh Corfman, the woman who alleges Moore molested her when she was 14.

Initially, some Republican Senate leaders told Moore to drop out of the race. But not the president. Trump, of course, has been accused by more than a dozen women of sexual misconduct—including by four Miss Teen USA contestants, who all said he walked in on them while they were naked in the dressing room. One claims that Trump said, "Don't worry, ladies, I've seen it all before." It was almost inevitable, then, that Trump would back Moore. He has been moving towards the thrilling conclusion for weeks, and Monday morning, he officially endorsed Moore for Senate:

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Democrats refusal to give even one vote for massive Tax Cuts is why we need Republican Roy Moore to win in Alabama. We need his vote on stopping crime, illegal immigration, Border Wall, Military, Pro Life, V.A., Judges 2nd Amendment and more. No to Jones, a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 4, 2017

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Putting Pelosi/Schumer Liberal Puppet Jones into office in Alabama would hurt our great Republican Agenda of low on taxes, tough on crime, strong on military and borders...& so much more. Look at your 401-k’s since Election. Highest Stock Market EVER! Jobs are roaring back! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 4, 2017

The depravity here is breathtaking. We need an accused child predator in the Senate so he can vote for a bill that will cement our budding plutocracy in the tax code? Trump even called Moore to offer his "full support." Here's Moore's reaction:

This, unfortunately, is what the Republican Party has now become. Just look at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose response to Moore's accusers was once as unequivocal as we could hope for from a Republican official: "I believe the women." He also suggested an ethics investigation into Moore was "almost certain" should he be elected. That was four days ago. Now, via The New York Times, McConnell says he will leave it up to Alabama voters and seat Roy Moore in the Senate if he wins:

Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, who has argued for weeks that Roy S. Moore, the Alabama Senate candidate, should leave the race, said on Sunday that he was “going to let the people of Alabama make the call.” ... In the past, Mr. McConnell had said that he was looking at drafting a write-in candidate for the election, and that if Mr. Moore, a Republican, won the race, he would support a Senate Ethics Committee investigation into the allegations against him.

But on Sunday, Mr. McConnell seemed to accept that Mr. Moore, who has denied the allegations, would not be stepping down with only days remaining before the vote.

Another profile in courage from a leader of the Republican Party. Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House who would practically sacrifice a goat on the floor of the House of Representatives to pass a tax cut, would be proud of this one. Ryan called on Moore to "step aside," but when asked if that standard applied to other Republican figures accused of sexual misconduct—like, say, the president—Ryan did not cover himself in glory:

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House Speaker Paul Ryan spoke with @NPRinskeep about Senate candidate Roy Moore: "I believe those allegations are credible." https://t.co/h2fSKm0v71 pic.twitter.com/cThMbPJPIO — Morning Edition (@MorningEdition) December 1, 2017

Gee, I wonder why the president thinks he can send his lawyer out to channel Richard Nixon. Maybe he's been watching the pathetic weakness with which party leaders have reacted to every other reprehensible thing Trump has done, and learned that they would struggle to put together one-tenth of the moral courage Nixon's fellow Republicans did when he ran roughshod over our democracy at the height of the Watergate scandal. When anything is acceptable to Republicans as long as they keep their Senate majority and pass a tax cut for the donors, there's little reason for optimism that our professed values as a democracy governed by the rule of law will win out in this political era. Certainly, common decency is dead and buried.

Jack Holmes Politics Editor Jack Holmes is the Politics Editor at Esquire, where he writes daily and edits the Politics Blog with Charles P Pierce.

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