“He was such a lap dog and tried for it so hard, he ended up not just losing badly in the presidential stakes — I think he just looks much weaker than he was before by his rabid pursuit of Trump,” said Ed Rollins, a longtime Republican strategist who is now advising a “super PAC” supporting Mr. Trump. “It was not a glorious couple of years here, or for the citizens of the state.”…

“It’s death by humiliation,” Ms. Roginsky, who is also a Fox News contributor, said. “Slow, twisting and played out in public, like a reality show elimination.”…

“I can’t imagine, given where the state of public opinion is now, that there’s anything he can do to make things better,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.

“I think if Trump wins, Trump will find something for him,” Mr. Murray said. “He’ll take anything, as is kind of obvious.”