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.
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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.
In a letter dated Jan. 6, 2021, Pence wrote, “It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.”
Both his actions and reasoning were correct.
In the days leading up to and including Jan. 6, 2021, President Donald Trump incorrectly concluded Pence had the authority to reject certification. He also pressured Pence to break his oath to the country and fanned the flames of rage toward him. It was disgraceful. The years since have not diminished Trump’s resentment toward Pence. Trump has also never urged his supporters to stop attacking Pence for his supposed traitorous behavior.
The ongoing saga is a poor reflection on the Republican Party. It confirms that the GOP is still Trump’s, no matter how much time has passed. It reveals that feelings, not facts, guide far too many voters. And it confirms that following the Constitution is considered optional if it doesn’t benefit your political team. These ideas and behaviors are the ones conservatives decry when exhibited by their political adversaries. A fixed moral compass says they are wrong when our side does it, too.
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When voters center themselves and their ideologies around a personality instead of principles, this is the result. Pence is constantly ridiculed and insulted for doing what he pledged to do when he took the oath of office before God and country. He didn’t abandon his promise in the face of intense pressure. He also didn’t somehow tacitly embrace leftism simply because he presided over the certification of electoral votes that officially declared Biden the winner of the presidential election.
To his great credit, Pence passed the biggest test of his political career by following long-established rules. In doing so, he created many enemies on his side of the aisle. He also garnered respect from many Americans on both the left and right. But his actions were not predicated upon how others would view him, either positively or negatively. In that way, he acted courageously in a field filled with people more concerned with being liked than doing what is right.