In a ritual dating back to that June 2015 ride down the escalator, the Republican Party is having a debate over what to do about Donald Trump. Some GOP power brokers, chief among them Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, are doing what they can to put this tradition, and the entire question, in the rearview.

It won’t be easy. The former president is constitutionally eligible to seek a second, nonconsecutive term in 2024, a possible rematch with President Joe Biden, and is seriously considering it. Whether he runs or not, Trump has always been reluctant to cede the spotlight to others, going back to his days as a reality TV star and real estate mogul. His entire career has been a running affirmation of the saying attributed to P.T. Barnum: “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”