One of the arguments against nominating an uncouth blowhard like Donald Trump was that every Republican would then be accountable for any of his crass or stupid comments. Alabama senator Jeff Sessions now appears to have lost his basic ability to reason as a result of being a Trump surrogate. In an interview with The Weekly Standard, Sessions said that he wouldn’t characterize grabbing a woman by her genitals—as Trump described in the now infamous hot mic recording—as sexual assault.

Really, Senator?

Alabama senator Jeff Sessions, a top Trump surrogate, said Sunday night that Trump used “very improper language,” but Sessions insisted in the post-debate spin room that behavior Trump described in the video wouldn’t constitute sexual assault.

SESSIONS: This was very improper language, and he’s acknowledged that.

TWS: But beyond the language, would you characterize the behavior described in that as sexual assault if that behavior actually took place?

SESSIONS: I don’t characterize that as sexual assault. I think that’s a stretch. I don’t know what he meant—

TWS: So if you grab a woman by the genitals, that’s not sexual assault?

SESSIONS: I don’t know. It’s not clear that he—how that would occur.

Every time you defend the indefensible, your credibility bleeds like a gunshot victim in an Italian western.

Certainly Sessions knows that uninvited genital grabbing is sexual assault, but he has painted himself into a corner by supporting Trump.  He was probably attempting to use the vacuous spin that says the controversy is over Trump’s “language” and not about what his crude sexual boasts reveal about his actions and character. That spin twists logic so badly that he got tongue-tied. Similar stumbles will happen as team Trump continues trying to equate conservatism with Trumpism.

If we elect President Trump, the list of Republicans who have abdicated their right to address issues of character and conservatism is going to be very long.