Moore has flatly denied all allegations but refused to refute them with any evidence; in fact, he has gotten only more brazen, now claiming that he doesn’t even know accusers who he last month admitted having known. That denial led another woman to bring forth evidence of her teenaged ties to Moore. Debbie Gibson had already described their relationship, but upset by his denial, she on Tuesday produced handwritten notes from Moore along with her annotations from the time.

So what has changed? The polling has. When the GOP abandoned Moore, he was leading, but the moral stakes were clear. Then the polling followed, with an NRSC poll showing Democrat Doug Jones with an astounding (and outlying) 12-point lead. But since Thanksgiving, as attention has drifted away from the race, Moore has floated back to a small lead over Jones. And Republican leaders have apparently begun to feel a little remorse over their moral stand, wondering if maybe it’s better to have a Republican in the Senate than a Democrat. After all, if Moore can get away with just pretending nothing ever happened, and Trump can get away with claiming that he isn’t on a tape he clearly is on, why should other Republicans not follow suit?

The one group that remains to be watched is the NRSC. Its chairman, Senator Cory Gardner, was quick to condemn Moore, saying that he should step aside, and if he were elected, the Senate should expel him. NRSC Executive Director Chris Hansen wrote a viral tweet mocking Moore for telling McConnell, “Bring it on,” which Hansen noted was also the title of a movie about high-school cheerleaders. The NRSC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the recent moves; CNN cited an NRSC source who said the group was still staying out.

As for the other leaders of the party, with their brief separation and then reconciliation with Moore, they have set their own trap, establishing abandonment as a moral bar and then breaking their own standard in short order. Politically, they may get away with it, at least in the short term. If the polls are right, Moore will win and head to the Senate. Nor can the GOP lose much credibility for taking sexual assault seriously; after all, as long as Trump is president and the party’s de facto leader, there’s no credibility to lose.

Longer term, there’s more potential for damage. The reversal is more embarrassing because of Moore’s disdain for the party. A deeply flawed candidate even before the sexual-misconduct allegations—Moore was twice removed from the Alabama Supreme Court for defying federal courts, blamed 9/11 on lack of faith, and uses racist slurs casually—he practically reveled in Washington’s denunciations, making plain how little he was beholden to the rest of the GOP. Now much of the rest of the GOP is slinking back to him.