Romney’s former aides embody the GOP backlash, and on Friday morning, as Trump offered his latest flattery for Putin, they seethed.

“Donald Trump is like that stray dog anybody can pet and it will follow you home,” former top Romney adviser Stuart Stevens told POLITICO. “Putin praises him so he loves Putin. It’s embarrassing and sad. He’s a seriously damaged individual who is deeply insecure and needs attention and praise and the source doesn’t matter.”

Another former Romney adviser, who did not want to be named, said emails were flying around Friday morning among ex-staffers and friends after Trump on MSNBC heaped praise on Putin and hesitated to condemn the Russian leader for allegations the Kremlin has killed high-profile journalists critical of Putin, saying “our country does plenty of killing also.”

That adviser said it was “shocking, appalling and disgusting” for him to equate Russia’s killing of journalists with anything that America does. “What he said about America killing people,” this person said, “that crosses the line.”