Top Nevada Republicans last week wasted an ideal opportunity to denounce the racist and xenophobic louts who have transformed the once-proud party into a safe haven for white supremacists and conspiracy nuts.

Let’s just say the message they sent was very mixed and provided an undeniable reminder that the state GOP remains under the toxic influence of Donald Trump.

After a hate-spewing blogger and conspiracy theorist accosted and physically threatened Gov. Steve Sisolak and his family at a local Mexican restaurant, and then was audacious enough to circulate a video, the responses from GOP gubernatorial candidates and state party officials ranged from pathetic silence to ringing endorsements of the menacing misanthrope.

You might imagine all candidates would decry a creep taunting a governor and telling him he’d “string you up by a lamppost.” You might think that would be beyond the pale. But you’d be wrong.

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, who comfortably leads his Republican challengers in The Indy’s latest poll, could afford to be generous while still getting in a little dig for the team. While acknowledging voter “frustration with Gov. Sisolak and his left-wing policies,” in a statement Lombardo noted that, “Hateful verbal abuse and violent threats have no place in our political system.”

Lombardo clearly never attended a “Stop the Steal” rally after the 2020 election. His TV cable must have been out on Jan. 6, 2021.

Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald, who has raised high the Big Lie banner and continues to parlay his Trump cachet, paused a moment to remind his fellow GOP members to communicate their vicious views at “the ballot box by electing our Republican nominee, not at a restaurant as (Sisolak) sits down for a meal with his wife and children.”

Decent of him, don’t you think?

Alas, the MAGA magnanimity was in short supply, and the problem with even those who managed to speak up is that they’re part of a political movement that’s been egging on reactionary extremism in the name of “firing up” the base. Really, hasn’t intimidating the “snowflake” Democrats been the goal all along?

When it comes to playing to the cheap seats filled with the falsely aggrieved and the phony patriot crowd, few gubernatorial candidates compare to “With Trump from the Jump” Joey Gilbert and “Three-Shot Plan” Michele Fiore. They wouldn’t dream of veiling their vitriol. It’s what they do.

Gilbert topped Fiore in this round after writing on Facebook of the latest threats against Sisolak, “Hell no I do not condemn it. You earned it Steve. You absolutely earned it.”

Fiore, the Las Vegas City Councilwoman who was stripped of her Mayor Pro-Tem designation over her racially charged comments, said Sisolak was “lucky it was just words” and “if you look at the history of dictators pitchforks will be next.”

Frankly, the malodorous comments of Gilbert and Fiore were to be expected. Their rhetoric was predictable.

What was less understandable was the lack of response from candidates Dean Heller and John Lee, both of whom are family men with long track records in elected office.

Making a statement against this kind of sludge wasn’t the answer to some gotcha question. This is a character question.

But there you have it. This is also the primary, where Republicans have rewritten the violence at the U.S. Capitol into a congressional guided tour gone awry. This is a state party that has celebrated heavily-armed militia members conveying a message of the threat of violence during anti-mask protests outside the Governor’s Mansion and Capitol in Carson City and the Grant Sawyer Building in Las Vegas. This is a state party that used thuggish tactics and the presence of self-described Proud Boys to remake the county Republican Party in a more Trumpian image.

Riding into the horrific head winds of a deadly COVID-19 pandemic and near-collapse of the state’s travel-and-tourism dependent economy, Sisolak makes an easy punching bag — and criticism comes with the office. Strong feelings and loud disagreements are to be expected in challenging times.

But this is different, or at least it should be.

I would like to be able to say it can’t get worse than this, but who am I kidding?

As we are regularly reminded, it can always get worse. And that’s something to remember as the 2022 election season rumbles on.

John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family’s Nevada roots go back to 1881. His stories have appeared in Time, Readers Digest, The Daily Beast, Reuters, Ruralite and Desert Companion, among others. He also offers weekly commentary on Nevada Public Radio station KNPR.