Shortly after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told The New York Times that Donald Trump “went too far.”

“Trump and I, we’ve had a hell of a journey,” the senator said after the riot. “I hate it to end this way. Oh my God, I hate it. … All I can say, is count me out, enough is enough.” A day later, the longtime Republican lawmaker went on to say, “When it comes to accountability, [Trump] needs to understand that his actions were the problem not the solution.”

This came to mind when Graham appeared on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” a couple of weeks ago and was asked about Trump describing the day of the insurrectionist assault as a “day of love.” He replied that “most” of the people who responded to Trump’s call “came out of love of the country.”

He apparently didn’t feel the need to repeat the “count me out, enough is enough” comments he’d made nearly four years earlier.

Graham has an enormous amount of company. After the riot, Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota not only spoke openly about Trump’s possible criminal liability, he specifically pointed to the federal statute related to “Rebellion or insurrection” as the law that prosecutors could use against his party’s then-president. Rounds added at the time that it would “stop [Trump] for running for election to a public office again.”

Rounds nevertheless supported Trump’s re-election campaign.

Then-House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy condemned Trump after Jan. 6, telling his members, “I’ve had it with this guy.” Nearly four years later, McCarthy not only endorsed the president-elect, he also started angling for a White House job.

It’s easy to forget what conditions were like in the immediate aftermath of the violence. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska wanted the then-president to resign before Inauguration Day 2021, declaring, “He needs to get out.” Then-Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania made similar comments, saying Trump’s behavior “does disqualify him from serving.”

Around the same time, Axios reported, “With 13 days left in President Trump’s term, confidants and Republican officials are considering drastic steps to stop him.”

The question at the time wasn’t whether his political career was over. It seemed obvious at the time that it was. The idea that he’d win a second term 46 months later was so manifestly preposterous that it had no role in the public conversation.

The question, rather, was whether his presidency would survive its final two weeks. With 25th Amendment chatter circulating in the nation’s capital, the answer was not a foregone conclusion.

It was around this same time when some Republicans — on Capitol Hill and off — suggested there was no real need to punish Trump for his post-defeat wrongdoing because his career couldn’t possibly recover.

It wasn’t just GOP members of Congress who agreed that Jan. 6 was an automatic disqualifier for Trump. David Sacks, a prominent party donor, said after the riot, “I think he’s disqualified himself from being a candidate at a national level. … I think, if you want to see this mob as a gun, I think he loaded the gun. He pointed it in a certain direction.”

Sacks nevertheless supported Trump’s 2024 candidacy.

Billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya added in 2021, “He is a complete piece-of-s— f—ing scumbag.”

In 2024, Palihapitiya hosted a fundraiser for Trump’s campaign.

In the aftermath of the riot, even Chris LaCivita amplified online content blaming Trump’s lies for the violence. And who’s Chris LaCivita? He’s the Republican who managed Trump’s 2024 candidacy.

Jan. 6 was the stain that would not wash off. It was the career-killer. It was the point from which there was no coming back.

Or so we thought.

What’s of particular interest was that Trump’s allies reversed course without a fight. It’s not as if Trump had somber and thoughtful conversations with key party leaders, expressing contrition and regret, accepting responsibility, and asking for their grudging forgiveness.

There was only surrender. A weak, leaderless, directionless party simply decided to stop caring about the crisis they briefly took seriously, submitting to the accused felon because he said so.