In a new set of findings previously embargoed for release from the big NBC News/Des Moines Register survey of Iowa Republican voters, 54 percent of respondents said they wouldn’t vote for a candidate who would “aggressively criticize” fat former President Trump for getting indicted. Only 16 percent said the opposite while 29 percent said it wouldn’t matter for their support.

So yeah this is kind of over. It’s been over for a while but that a candidate would be penalized by the electorate for “aggressively” capitalizing on what’s supposed to be a liability for their leading opponent is like, seriously what the fuck, it’s hard to come up with a comparable situation because there’s simply so many one could imagine. It’s treating Trump’s self-inflicted legal issues almost like they’re some sort of off-limits personal or family tragedy when the reality is they’re by far the freshest argument as to why he shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the White House again.

Try to map say, Iowa Senator Joni Ernst’s failed marriage onto this. Think of how voters would react if a Dem or Republican primary opponent had used that as an argument as to why she was unfit for office. As shitty as Ernst is of a politician, voters would be absolutely correct to punish a challenger for weaponizing her abusive asshole ex-husband against her. That same sort of disgust they would have felt is what the majority of Iowa Republican voters are expressing now in this poll. How the fuck are Ron DeSantis and Tim Scott supposed to campaign around that? They can’t and won’t and that’s why, barring a very unlikely shake-up, this primary race is pretty much already over.