The people I’ve mentioned are quick to express their distaste for Donald Trump, even though they are voting for him. Most didn’t support him in the primaries. And Trump has left them conflicted many times with his erratic behavior. But they’ve never considered voting for a Democrat. For them, Democrats are an outgroup. They may know some personally and like them, but they recoil from the idea of voting for one just as Lena Dunham would recoil from voting Republican.

Thus my theory—and just a theory, mind you—about what may be going on.

Many partisans will always find a way to persuade themselves that the other party’s candidate is bad enough to clearly justify their support for their party’s candidate. Therefore, their opinion of the opposing candidate is partly shaped by the quality of their party’s nominee—insofar as he or she is unusually hard to support, the opposing candidate will come to be regarded as even more unusually evil or dangerous. This enables them to support a person they regard as embarrassing or unworthy. Anything can be justified when you’ve got a gun to your head.

Is that what is happening to some conservatives?