Sam Fox of St. Louis, ambassador to Belgium during President George W. Bush’s administration, joined former Sen. Jack Danforth, and Joplin businessman David Humphreys, who donated millions to his first campaign, in cutting ties with Hawley.

“Sen. Hawley engaged in an act of reckless pandering,” Fox said in the statement released through a spokesman. “He helped put the country on a path that has ended in five deaths and in disgrace for himself and for the nation. Supporting Hawley when he ran for the Senate in 2018 was my mistake. He can certainly forget about any support from me again.”

And some prominent Missouri Republicans are saying that it will take far longer to repair the damage to Hawley’s political career, if it can be rehabilitated, than to fix the damage to the Capitol.

John Hancock, a former state GOP chairman and the consultant who led the independent expenditure group Uniting Missouri that backed Gov. Mike Parson’s 2020 election campaign, said Hawley has likely destroyed his chances for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.