After weeks of pent up Republican criticism of Donald Trump, the dam finally burst Saturday. Once Trump’s rivals started condemning him for insulting a party elder and, less directly, any American captured or killed in combat, it began to feel safer to attack him on a wide variety of fronts.

That’s all to the good. But some Republicans are taking things a step further and hoping Trump will be excluded from the debates unless he apologizes, which he rarely does. If, as the Republican National Committee says, there “is no place in our party or our country” for Trump’s comments, how can there be any place for Trump on the debate stage?