It is just crazy they are willing to put the whole country at risk just to say the Repubs are back in the White house. That shows where their priorities are and they don't give a damn about the rest of us.

They've trapped themselves BD and they know it. But you raise very good questions:

1. "what does it take for a party to not back a candidate even if he was voted in?"

2. "why can't the chairman and the other leaders come out and say they don't back him personally?

3. Why do they have to keep grinning like everything is ok when they know it is not?"

Re: your first question: I would think there must be some policy guideline in the governing by-laws of both political parties to address such a situation should such a situation (though rare) become clearly evident.

Which brings me to your 2nd (and 3rd) questions.

Basically Repub leaders have abandoned all of their so-called "conservative" values and principles. They despise Trump but they're trying desperately to hang onto his supporters for their votes. To denounce and repudiate Trump would take real *Courage" – and it's clear, Repub leaders who are actively still serving in the Senate and Congress have None.

"Trump 'Fine' With Trying American Citizens At Guantanamo Bay"

Excerpt:

Donald Trump on Thursday said he was willing to try American citizens in military courts at the Guantanamo Bay detention center.

"Well, I know that they want to try them in our regular court systems, and I don’t like that at all. I don’t like that at all," Trump told the Miami Herald when asked if he would want the military tribunals at Guantanamo to try U.S. citizens. "I would say they could be tried there, that would be fine."

It is not currently legal for the United States to try Americans in military tribunals, and doing so would require Congress changing the law. […]

H/T: Politico

HotAir Reader:
He's putting his insanity right in Macy's window now, isn't he? I never completely dropped the idea that he never wanted to win, one of his early aides said as much, that his outrageous statements were deliberate sabotage. I'm re-examining that theory..[….]

HotAir Reader
He's going to be beaten like the proverbial rented mule. And the die hard Trumpsters will blame everyone but the worst candidate in modern history… […]

CNN: Trump backtracks on Obama as ISIL founder: 'Don't they get sarcasm?'

After doubling down on his assertion that President Barack Obama is the “founder” of the Islamic State, Donald Trump on Friday suggested he was being sarcastic. “Ratings challenged @CNN reports so seriously that I call President Obama (and Clinton) ‘the founder’ of ISIS, & MVP,” Trump tweeted Friday morning. “THEY DON'T GET SARCASM?”

H/T: Politico

Politico Reader:
Anybody still supporting Trump at this point has to be a total idiot. This is a game to him and now that he knows he is going to lose – he simply doesn't give a damn. That makes Trump very very dangerous. […]

Politico Reader:
George Bush negotiated the troop removal treaty with Iraq. The agreement went into effect after Obama took office. Bush did this because the government of Iraq said if our troops stayed, they would be subject to Iraqi courts and Sharia Law. Trump is cool with this. Or maybe he's just stupid. Bush did the right thing withdrawing the troops. And Obama should not have changed this. […] .