Vice President Mike Pence is furious with President Trump for trying to pressure him into violating the Constitution by refusing to certify the presidential election results. GOP Senator James Inhofe reported that Mike Pence is the angriest he has ever seen him. This comes as many members of the Republican Party are condemning Trump’s behavior, with many of them now calling for his resignation. Senator Lindsey Graham, who had become an ally of the president deep into his term, has decided to cut ties with Trump by saying, “Count me out. Enough is enough.”

 
An hour before Congress was supposed to certify the presidential election results, President Trump held a rally near the White House where he told his supporters to march to the Capitol building and “fight like hell.” His attorney Rudy Giuliani also declared at the rally that there needs to be a “trial by combat.” These words helped incite the deadly riots led by fringe extremists that took place at the Capitol on January 6th. It was the first time that the Capitol building had been invaded since the War of 1812.

 
Since the election, Trump has been repeating conspiracy theories about the election being stolen from him. Attorney General William Barr made it clear that these conspiracy theories have no basis in reality. These are the same conspiracy theories that contributed to the loss of the Senate for the GOP by discouraging people in Georgia from voting in the Senate runoffs.

 
William Barr also stated, “Orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable... The President’s conduct was a betrayal of his office.”

 
Trump exhausted every legal avenue he could to challenge the election, but he was ultimately struck down by conservative constitutionalist judges that he appointed. Mike Pence fulfilled his constitutional duty in making his loss official. This resulted in some rioters chanting, “Hang Mike Pence!”

Pence is a principled conservative constitutionalist, unlike Trump. Conservatism will prevail beyond this dark period in the United States, but it will take principled constitutionalists like Pence to remind Americans what the country stands for in the pursuit of liberty and justice for all. Trump’s influence will undoubtedly remain a strong force, and conservative leaders will have to take a stand for conservative principles when Trump does not. To the surprise of many, he did follow through on many conservative policies. However, Donald Trump is not principled and does not fully understand what it means to be a conservative. Trump has vowed to campaign against all conservative politicians who did not stand with him on January 6th.

Principled conservatives like Mike Pence, Ted Cruz, Tim Scott, Lindsey Graham, and Marco Rubio will have a great opportunity to show Americans what conservatism is really about: respect for the Constitution and for the rule of law. Losing suburban voters that have traditionally voted Republican is a trend that they will have to reverse.