When the end came and Republicans told him they could not save him, President Richard Nixon agreed to walk away, in large measure for the good of his party.

Forty-five years later, what might the GOP expect from its current president accused of trying to rig a presidential election in his favor, should Donald Trump s standing deteriorate to a similar level?

He will burn it to the ground, predicted one former Trump White House official.

And therein lies a further complicating factor for Republicans in Congress and nationally as House Democrats ramp up their impeachment proceedings into Trumps coercion of Ukraine this summer to investigate his most feared Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden . Trumps loyalty to his party is viewed as paper-thin, at best. While Nixon was a lifelong Republican, having served as President Dwight Eisenhowers vice president and as a congressman and U.S. senator from California, Trump had little relationship with the GOP before he took it over by winning its presidential nomination in 2016.

All Trump cares about is Trump, said former Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh, one of three Republicans challenging Trump for the 2020 nomination. Hed take down the entire planet if it helped Trump.