THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

While members of Congress are assimilating the latest Trump Russian revelations and wondering if it is time to find and dust off their long unused spines, one group know it can never do anything of substance about him. The senior Republican leadership knows full well their nuts are in a salad shooter if they ever give up Cheeto Mussolini.

The revelation, based on contemporaneous notes kept by Mr. Comey, heightened the unease among Republicans on Capitol Hill and produced new calls for Mr. Comey to testify. But it did not seem to stir Republican leaders to any new level of urgency. Their position has puzzled Democrats, political analysts and many in the news media who keep asking: What will it take for leading Republicans to abandon Mr. Trump given the escalating White House chaos and its impact on the policy agenda?

But as they survey the political and investigative landscape, Republicans say they have good reasons for not being swept up in what they see as the self-inflicted disorder rocking Mr. Trump and his White House.

Top Republicans on and off the Senate Intelligence Committee say they have yet to see convincing evidence of Mr. Trump colluding with the Russians during the presidential campaign, despite the intense scrutiny. Without such proof, Republicans are reluctant to engage in undermining Mr. Trump.

House and Senate Republicans say that the inquiries being conducted by the intelligence committees and other panels are more than sufficient and capable of producing results.

Republicans are loath to accede to Democratic demands of any kind. What is the point of being in control of the House and Senate if they are going to acquiesce to heated Democratic cries for a special counsel or a select committee?

Republicans are acutely aware that if they turn on Mr. Trump, they run the risk of alienating the voters who made him president, voters the Republican Party is going to badly need in the midterm elections.

While Democrats and growing numbers of independent voters are digging in against Mr. Trump, conservatives in red states that provide the party majorities in the House and Senate are still standing by him. It is the same reasoning behind the Republican push for their health care bill — they need to mollify the base even at the risk of alienating other voting blocs.

You can say it many ways but ultimately it comes down to protecting their currently gold plated meal tickets. And a center point of the Republican Party has always been that greed supercedes country.