Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan will probably express chagrin, regret and disagreement with the "shithole" stance of President Trump.

It's a familiar pattern. The president makes an obnoxious, racist, false or idiotic comment, and the Alaska senators eventually respond with restraint. If they use a few harsh words, it won't be enough to trigger a Trump tirade.

The senators work with staff members to craft careful comments about how much they disagree.  There will be hand-wringing and expressions of "deep concern" about "inappropriate comments." They might even ask for an explanation.

In this case, they might say that the thousands of Alaskans whose heritage extends to Haiti and Africa did not come from shitholes. Perhaps they will say that "if" Trump said shithole, he should apologize.

They are afraid of getting on the bad side of the wannabe member of Mensa. The Alaska senators are models of diplomacy, no matter that the president has brought shame to the United States once again.

As the leader of the Republican Party, Trump has routinely made his views clear about "shithole countries" and the people who live there. The party establishment, which includes Murkowski and Sullivan, tends to follow wherever Trump leads, as obsequious as Vice President Mike Pence or the subordinates of Kim Jong Un.

Trump is now claiming he didn't say shithole, but he used  unspecified "tough" language. Sure.

Someone is lying. All of the GOP senators who attended the meeting should go on the record about whether it is Trump or Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who also heard what the president said.

The Alaska senators were always quick to attack President Obama with the harshest language. Who can forget when they announced that Obama had declared war on Alaska?

They are timid and almost tongue-tied when it comes to Trump because they belong to the same party. He is leading the descent of the GOP and they are following his every step.