And then there’s Mr. Pence, a man whose job has been to provide evangelical cover to Mr. Trump’s meretricious version of New York values. That’s the sort of role he could have assumed the way an ER nurse approaches an Ebola patient—out of stern professional duty and through thick rubber gloves.

Instead, Mr. Pence has thrown himself into the work with relish, constantly vouchsafing the character of “this good man” Donald Trump. About most other politicians the claim would be a throwaway line, but in this case it amounts to something else: part self-deception and part outright deception, till the hope and the lie blur. Like every other enabler, Mr. Pence is desperate to make true what he knows is not.

On Saturday, after the video eruption, Mr. Pence seemed to have his own moral awakening, refusing to serve as Mr. Trump’s surrogate at an event in Wisconsin and hinting that he might pull out of the race if his running mate didn’t express sufficient contrition at Sunday’s debate. But Mr. Pence’s moment of clarity was as short-lived as Mr. Trump’s remorse. He now claims he never considered leaving the ticket.

What a shame for Mr. Pence to besmirch himself through dogged fidelity to a candidate whose own notions of loyalty are as one-way as his concept of marriage.