As former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial approaches, Republicans find themselves confronting a dilemma about how closely tied they should remain to the polarizing figure who departed the White House last month.

While Democrats face their own impeachment quandary — how much political capital should they spend on a Senate trial for a president who is already out of office at the expense of enacting a COVID-19 relief package and other items on President Biden’s legislative agenda? — it is beginning to dawn on Republicans that Trump might not let them rely on constitutional process arguments in advocating for his acquittal.