Though they have reached an apparent consensus that supporting Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, who faces multiple accusations of inappropriately touching, flirting with, and sexually assaulting teenage girls, is neither politically expedient nor morally desirable, Republicans are now grappling with what exactly to do about it. With Moore rapidly sinking in the polls but refusing to step down, the G.O.P. is scrambling to come up with a plan that forestalls the loss of its Alabama seat, while placating the far-right faction that could recoil the moment the “establishment” sticks its nose into Moore’s candidacy.

There was a bright, brief period wherein Mitch McConnell generated hype around a plan to return Attorney General Jeff Sessions to his old seat with a write-in campaign. But the National Republican Senatorial Committee quickly realized that this scheme was likely to split the Republican vote, handing a win to Moore’s Democratic opponent, Doug Jones. And Session himself was reportedly unenthused about the plan, preferring to remain in his White House role.

So the G.O.P. has moved on to another scheme which, according to Politico, involves asking sitting Alabama Senator Luther Strange to step down now rather than at the end of his term, triggering a new special election and hopefully give Republicans enough time to find any candidate better than the Breitbart-backed Moore. But there are some doubts as to the legality of the scheme—U.C. Irvine professor Rick Hasen argues that it violates the 17th Amendment—and even McConnell’s aides have “express[ed] caution, saying they're uncertain whether such a move, one of several options being discussed, is even possible.” Other senior Republicans reportedly floated a third time-buying idea: delaying the special election, which is scheduled to take place on December 12. But Alabama Governor Kay Ivey seemed to nix both proposals when she told AL.com that should Strange resign, she would simply appoint another senator to take his place until December, and when she indicated in a Tuesday meeting with Senator Richard Shelby, the other senator from Alabama, that she had no interest in moving election day, according to Politico.

Even with two more women coming forward to lodge accusations against him, Moore enjoys support from a contingent of state legislators, who on Wednesday night nixed the prospect of removing Moore as their candidate, closing that avenue for McConnell. And two of Moore’s more vocal anti-establishment backers, Sean Hannity and Steve Bannon, seemed to have regained their confidence in him; Bannon, who was reportedly besieged by advisers begging him to drop Moore, ultimately chose to stick it out, and on Wednesday, Hannity—who just the day before had loudly threatened to withdraw his support for Moore—equivocated, saying that Moore’s fitness for office should be decided by the “people of Alabama.”

Though he was widely expected to do so on Wednesday following his return from Asia, Donald Trump has not yet weighed in on the Moore conundrum, nor has administration—the closest thing to a comment has come from Kellyanne Conway, who said on Fox News Thursday morning that she would “not get ahead of the president and anything he wishes to add,” then quickly pivoted to tax reform. As The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman points out, however, Hannity’s position is usually a good barometer for Trump’s—in other words, it’s increasingly unlikely that the president will swoop in with a genius idea to oust Moore and save face for establishment Republicans.