Now that Donald Trump is the presumptive presidential nominee, a parade of prominent Republican leaders is breaking with the traditions and rituals of party unity and offering him a blunt message:
Nope. Never. I can't. I won't.
In a flurry of social media posts and interviews over the last 24 hours, these Republicans raced to distance themselves from Trump, delivering a remarkable rebuke to him at precisely the moment when parties usually coalesce around a candidacy.
Mark Salter, a longtime strategist for Sen. John McCain of Arizona, sounded resigned and disgusted as he said the unthinkable: He was now prepared to back Hillary Clinton.
"The GOP is going to nominate for President a guy who reads the National Enquirer and thinks it's on the level," he wrote on Twitter late Tuesday. "I'm with her."
The dissenters, who range from wizened elders to younger strategists and even elected officials, are loudly and publicly proclaiming their unwillingness to support Trump.
Many have expressed reservations about him in the past, but left open the possibility they might back him in the future. Now they are forcefully foreclosing that option.
"I think Donald Trump has proven to be unbalanced and uniquely unqualified to be president. I won't support him," Stuart Stevens, the top strategist for Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign, said in an interview Tuesday night. "Everyone has to make their own choice. I think Trump is despicable and will prove to be a disaster for the party. I'd urge everyone to continue to oppose him."
Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, an up-and-coming Tea Party Republican many view as a future leader of the party, wasted little time disassociating himself from the current unofficial one.
Alluding to an essay he wrote in February, in which he denounced Trump as a destructive force bent on dividing the country, Sasse answered those who asked if Trump's decisive victory in Indiana on Tuesday "changes anything for me."
"The answer is simple," he said: "No."
Perhaps the most startling sentiments belonged to Republicans who said they would cross party lines to avoid elevating Trump.
A terse Twitter message, "#ImWithHer," from Ben Howe, a contributing editor to the conservative website Redstate.com, immediately went viral. In a series of colorful follow-up posts, Howe despaired over the fate of his party with Trump as its nominee.
"Goodbye @GOP," Howe wrote, adding: "I'm drinking wine directly out of the bottle right now. #NeverTrump."
Steve Deace, a conservative radio show host in Iowa, said he would never waver from his pledge to oppose Trump to the end.
"You can sign my name in blood," he wrote on Twitter.
As Republicans raced to social media to declare their unshakable opposition to Trump, some expressed hope that a national movement might still arise to stop him; others alluded to the harsh judgments of history and said they wanted to be on the right side of it.
"I will never vote for @realDonaldTrump. Join me and add your name at NeverTrump.com," wrote Patrick Ruffini, founder of a Washington political media firm.
It was difficult to say how many top Republicans intended to break with the party's presumptive nominee. Trump on Tuesday night extended an olive branch to his detractors and asserted, without offering any names, that many of those who had mocked him in the past were now privately pledging their support.
"They are calling now," he said, with characteristic bravado. "And they are calling to say, 'We'd love to get on the train.' The Trump train. We have a lot of people coming."
Tony Fratto, a former deputy press secretary to President George W. Bush, was not among them. On Tuesday night, he reiterated his deep distaste for Trump.
"For the thick-headed," he wrote, "#NeverTrump means never ever ever ever ever under any circumstances as long as I have breath never Trump. Get it?"
Got it.
Several well-known Republicans, sounding startled and saddened by the turn of events, publicly agonized over their decisions on Tuesday.
Lanhee J. Chen, a foreign policy adviser to Romney in 2012 and to Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida in this campaign, said he was looking for options outside the party. Trump's victory in Indiana, Chen wrote on Twitter, "raises seriousness and urgency of discussions about third-party alternative."
Corey Adair, a former director of the Nevada Republican Party, went further, saying his disdain for Trump had hardened into a firm rejection.
He mocked supporters of Trump, who he said have taunted him for some time. "You'll come around," he wrote, mimicking their pleas.
"Nah," he added. "I won't. #NeverTrump."