Former Vice President Mike Pence’s new book What Conservatives Believe: Rediscovering the Conservative Conscience is timely given the deep divisions on the Right over the meaning of conservatism. It is as much an answer to the Progressive Left as it is the Populist Right.Since leaving office, Pence has been the subject of much derision, with most of it coming from former allies on the Right. The reason centers around Pence’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021. His post on X announcing the new book was met with a flood of replies labeling him “Judas” and “a traitor,” among other things. These reactions are not new. Every time Pence posts something on social media, he faces a barrage of such comments.This continued hostility toward Pence is as disappointing as it is expected. The harassment he’s received since Jan. 6, 2021, highlights the relevance of the book he just released. How he’s treated is a side effect of the populist movement he now critiques.
While what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, is not akin to 9/11 as some delusional leftists suggest, it is a dark stain on our history. The sitting president and his most ardent supporters truly and wrongly believed the 2020 election had been stolen. As a result, they thought the only thing standing in the way of a Biden administration was Pence delaying the certification of electoral votes. However, none of their concerns altered the vice president’s ultimate constitutional role.
