Here’s the story dominating the news cycle the day after President Joe Biden signed “into law sweeping legislation to lower prescription drug prices, boost the renewable energy sector and impose new taxes on large corporations.”

Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming was resoundingly defeated by Harriet Hageman in her Republican primary on Tuesday, handing Donald J. Trump his most prized trophy yet in his long campaign to purge the Republican Party of his critics.

Once again, the disgraced ex-president has robbed the current one of attention.

The challenge for Mr. Biden is acute. Only 41 percent of Americans said they were even familiar with the legislation signed on Tuesday, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. But its major elements enjoy strong support among voters when informed, with 62 percent to 71 percent in favor of provisions like allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices and expanding incentives for clean energy.

If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound? The Democrats would rather not try to answer that question. And there’s at least one important segment of the electorate that might be willing to listen:

To win back disaffected Democrats and left-leaning independents concerned that Mr. Biden was not following through on his campaign promises, the White House plans to make the case that the legislation and other actions of recent weeks demonstrate that he is, even if belatedly, achieving priorities that matter to them.

For the people who have rated Biden negatively because of perceived ineffectiveness, the last month or so has been a narrative-changer. He’s signed major legislation on gun control, computer chip manufacturing and veterans’ health benefits, as well as the signature Inflation Reduction Act. When coupled with his previous COVID-19 recovery and infrastructure bills, Biden now has a legislative record to rival any president in their first two years in office. He should see fewer supporters giving negative reviews to the pollsters, and that will provide an uptick in his overall approval numbers.

But the resounding defeat of Cheney shows that Republican voters are not willing to listen to facts or accept any criticism of Trump. Next into the meat-grinder is probably ex-vice president Mike Pence, who sounds willing to testify before the January 6 committee and is asking Republicans to stop attacking the FBI. Welcome as they may be, these moves are not going to make him a more viable candidate for the GOP’s presidential nomination.

If Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon in part to avoid having his presidency overshadowed by the spectacle of a trial, he didn’t need to worry that Nixon would run for, and perhaps win the presidency in the future. Trump remains in so prominently in the news because a comeback remains possible, and that’s also why he has to be prosecuted, no matter how much oxygen it robs from Biden’s agenda and accomplishments. We can’t get past Trump in any other way.