This morning, John McCain harshly criticized Donald Trump for his ugly attacks on the parents of a fallen US soldier.

Which is good, as far as it goes.

Unfortunately, it didn’t go very far at all, since this grotesque narcissistic display by Trump apparently wasn’t sufficient for McCain to withdraw his endorsement of the Republican presidential candidate.

And let’s examine what McCain actually said:

“In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldier’s parents. He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States — to say nothing of entering its service,” McCain said in a statement released by his office Monday. “I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump’s statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates.”

Except those remarks clearly do represent the views of the most important Republican candidate currently running for office, don’t they?

And it’s quite clear from the attacks against Khizr Khan now emanating from many conservative sources that Trump’s remarks also represent the views of a sizeable portion of the Republican Party — namely, the people who will be voting for Donald Trump.