When Trump eventually goes down in flames – whether in the primary at the convention or in the general election, where he will inevitably lose at least 40 states to Hillary – there is going to be a reckoning for the people who helped foist this disastrous nominee on the party.

Probably most of the pundits who have paved the way for this short-fingered charlatan will survive because there’s always a market for saying whatever a mob wants to hear, but the actual people who have worked for Trump or been his willing surrogates on television are probably going to have a hard time finding work in politics for the foreseeable future, because they’re going to be walking around with a giant scarlet “T” on their chests, like Hester Prynne in the Nathaniel Hawthorne book. The Sean Hannitys and Eric Bollings of the world will be like Rev. Dimmesdale, except they don’t have consciences to speak of so they won’t face any real internal turmoil about getting off scot free.

In any event, Kasich has long claimed that he is not, in fact, actively helping Trump in spite of the fact that he at every turn has done things which have (coincidentally!) helped Trump to accumulate delegates, which gets him closer to the 1,237 threshold, which eliminates Kasich’s own chances at winning a contested convention (since there won’t be one).

Still, though, Kasich could always say with a straight face that he isn’t helping Trump on purpose, he’s just kind of stupid and clueless, yuk yuk, nobody has any chance of reaching 1,237, don’t hold his stupidity against him, guys!

Not anymore. After Kasich double-crossed the Cruz team and actually ensured that more dedicated Trump delegates would be on the slate of people at the RNC (thus making it infinitely more difficult for anyone not named Trump to win at a contested convention), there is no possible interpretation for the Kasich’s campaign’s actions other than helping Trump. Probably Kasich might cost Trump a couple delegates in New York on Tuesday, but he will no doubt keep infinitely more out of Cruz’s hands in California (and other places) by staying in the race wayyyyyy past his sell by date.

But more to the point, John Kasich has now actively helped Donald Trump secure delegates. This is more even than Corey Lewandowksi, Trump’s own campaign manager has done. John Kasich is now an active ally of Donald Trump. And for that, he gets to wear a scarlet “T” for the rest of his life.