Pity the poor Republicans: Trapped by Trump between denial, dithering and surrender

Chris Christie, Donald Trump, Paul Ryan (Credit: Reuters/Andrew Kelly/Chris Tilley/Jonathan Ernst/Photo montage by Salon)
Can we spare a thought for the impossible dilemma now facing elected officials of the Republican Party? Not a whole thought, perhaps; maybe three-eighths of one. And very little in the way of compassion: The GOP’s cynical leadership class spent years building the Trumpian monstrosity that now threatens to devour it whole and spit out the bones. If Paul Ryan and Donald T