Donald Trump is almost certain to win next month's primary in New Jersey, and has the support of both the governor and most Republican county organizations.

So why are almost no elected Republicans endorsing him? And what should we conclude from that?

First, the easy part: Gov. Chris Christie has very little juice in New Jersey these days, even among members of his own party. He is the lamest of ducks with a 26 percent favorability rating. And his endorsement of Trump was so phony and opportunistic that it turned stomachs from Bergen to Cape May.

But there is more to it. Elected Republicans could brush past the governor's cadaver and endorse Trump for their own reasons. Yet they have chosen not to.

None of the state's six Republican Congressmen have endorsed Trump, and the campaign could confirm just three members of the state Legislature who have: Sen. Mike Doherty (R-Warren), Sen. Joseph Pennachio (R-Morris), and Sen. Kevin O'Toole (R-Essex).

Why is that?

"I have no idea," O'Toole says.

"I really don't know," Doherty says.

A spokesperson for the Trump campaign in New Jersey would offer no comment.

Here's our best guess: They know this moment will be remembered, and they don't want to carry this stain for the rest of their careers.

Trump's many offenses have put him in a new category in American politics, one that is well outside the normal bounds of reasonable debate.

His behavior is offensive, even to many mainstream Republicans like former Gov. Christie Whitman, who compared his political tactics to Adolf Hitler's.

Trump has encouraged violence against demonstrators, even suggesting he might pay the legal fees of a man who sucker-punched a peaceful protestor at a Trump rally.

He would use the machinery of the American government to discriminate against Muslims at the borders. Imagine a businessman from Indonesia arriving at Newark airport for a meeting in Manhattan, and being barred entry based on his religion. It is bigotry, plain and simple.

And how would he enforce that? Would he require all arrivals to show proof of religion?

He has tapped the same resentment against Latinos with his factually incorrect slander about the tendency of Mexican immigrants to commit rape and other crimes.

His treatment of women is shocking, over and over. He evaluates them sexually, for better or worse. He diminishes all accomplished women by suggesting that Hillary Clinton's only appeal is her gender. And he famously said that women who get abortions should be punished.

He shows no interest in serious thought about the nation's challenges. He seems to know nothing about health care, or nuclear weapons policy, or the obvious danger of igniting a ruinous trade war with China.