After more than a year of shocking public statements and actions, the likes of which would have eliminated any other presidential candidate long ago, Donald Trump and his campaign are finally imploding.

Over the past five days, a series of wounds Trump has inflicted on his own campaign increasingly appear to be fatal. Elected officials who had been cautiously on board began publicly criticizing him over the weekend regarding his appalling criticism of the parents of a slain Army captain who spoke at the Democratic National Convention. U.S. Rep. Richard Hanna on Tuesday became the first GOP congressman to say he’ll vote for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

It’s hard to imagine others won’t follow.

Already, former GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain and House Speaker Paul Ryan have obliquely condemned Trump’s comments, though notably, neither withdrew his endorsement. Sally Bradshaw, top adviser to Jeb Bush, announced Monday she’s leaving the Republican Party and will vote for Clinton if it looks like Bradshaw’s home state of Florida is close. And the Koch brothers, whose financial support seems essential for any leading GOP candidate for federal office, rejected calls for them to support Trump, signaling they plan to focus on down-ballot Senate and House races instead.

A religious test for entering our country is not reflective of America’s fundamental values. I reject it. pic.twitter.com/DdsYj2XoLS

— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) July 31, 2016

Trump’s criticism of Khizr and Ghazala Khan may ultimately be seen as the moment when he finally, at long last, jumped the proverbial shark. After a never-ending stream of Trump denigration of Mexicans, women, the disabled, immigrants, Muslims, his fellow GOP candidates and anyone else not quick enough to get out of the line of fire, it’s mildly heartening to see Republicans beginning to take a stand.

But there is a whiff of opportunism in all of this. Having largely been silent during equally outrageous and offensive broadsides over the past year, Republican elected officials and candidates now seem to be envisioning a golden off-ramp from Trump’s highway to electoral hell. Tough to part ways with the candidate over some of his past sins, the thinking goes, but Trump leaves the exit door wide open with his insults of the parents of an Army captain killed while protecting soldiers under his command.

Thus, Trump may be transformed from Republican standard bearer to outrageous outlier who by his continued presence in the race has the power to make other Republicans seem sober and reasonable by comparison.

Distancing Themselves From Candidate They Chose

The big problem with that, of course, is that Trump didn’t just materialize as the GOP nominee. He was nominated on his strength of support from a party base that not only doesn’t punish him for his complete lack of decency, but that has been aided and abetted by many of the same officials now wringing their hands.

Hawaii offers an interesting illustration of all this. In the run-up to the March 8 presidential caucus, Trump was at his acidic worst, driving “Little Marco” Rubio out of the GOP race, belittling the wife of Sen. Ted Cruz and memorably refusing to condemn the World War II concentration camps where so many Japanese-Americans were interned.

Hawaii Republicans still rewarded him with 42.4 percent of the vote — more than he received in 26 other states and the District of Columbia — and a first-place caucus finish. Criticism of Trump by elected Republicans was in as short of supply as elected Republicans in Hawaii.

When state House Minority Leader Beth Fukumoto Chang dared to share thoughts critical of Trump at the state GOP convention in May, she was practically chased from the podium by attendees calling her RINO (Republican in name only) and angrily shouting, “Resign!” Afterward, numerous Republicans told Civil Beat’s Chad Blair that it was “essential” for the party to unite behind its nominee.

Hawaii Republicans gave him 42.4 percent of their vote — more than he received in 26 other states and the District of Columbia — and a first-place caucus finish.

No, Republican voters and GOP elected officials chose brash, erratic Trump from a field of 17 candidates that included sitting and former U.S. senators and governors, a neurosurgeon and a former corporate CEO. His eccentricities were on full display long before voting began. Buyer’s remorse might be an appropriate emotion at this point in their campaign, but Trump didn’t select himself to be the GOP nominee. They did.

Creating distance between Republican elected officials and Trump might be helpful in protecting the party’s down-ballot exposure. But to pretend they didn’t play a big role in lighting the dumpster fire that is the Trump campaign ignores historic fact.

Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin, a conservative who writes the paper’s popular Right Turn blog, published a roaring condemnation on Sunday of those Republican leaders who haven’t denounced Trump. Saying House Speaker Ryan, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell and vice presidential nominee Mike Pence “knew what they were getting into when they climbed aboard the Donald Trump bandwagon,” Rubin called on Pence to step off the ticket, saying, “Republicans who cheer him on … are signing their political death warrants.”

Maybe. But they are also unwittingly making an emphatic point, namely that the same party that nominated Trump cannot be trusted with control of the Senate or the House. Were it not for the Khans, these same officials would be smiling nervously and continuing to offer bland support for their guy.

Which message is most resonant with voters — the need to reject Trump or the need to take away majority status of the party that gave us Trump — remains to be seen in the three months between now and Nov. 8. But Trump’s current electoral radioactivity can be seen vividly in some of the most heavily watched polling sites tracking the presidential race.

Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight, for instance, had Trump ahead, 55.4 percent to 44.6 percent, as recently as July 27 in its “Now-Cast” (who would win the election if it were today). By late Tuesday, Clinton led the Now-Cast 85.9 percent to 14.1 percent — an 82-point shift. FiveThirtyEight’s less volatile “Polls-Plus Forecast” had Clinton up by 19 points as recently as July 25; that lead ballooned to 33 points by yesterday. Silver’s column on Tuesday wondered whether Clinton’s lead is simply a post-convention bounce or “the new equilibrium.”

For America’s sake, we should all hope it’s the latter.