Some of us have spent the better part of the past two decades or longer arguing that conservatives should be more open to a populist and working-class core of voters, the losers of globalization. We have been arguing for putting “the forgotten man” at the heart of conservatism’s concerns. We’ve argued for reexamining the effect of our trade relationships on the American people themselves. We denounced the democracy project in the Middle East and Afghanistan as a waste of blood and treasure. We argued for getting control of our immigration system, and for immigration limits and moratoriums in order to make America cohere again. It was thankless work. And if we had known it was all to set the stage for opportunists and recent converts to make their riches and fly their freak flags, perhaps we wouldn’t have done it.

And now it’s time to be very firm. These working-class causes deserve better than what Donald Trump gave them. They deserve better than to be swallowed up by theories about Hugo Chávez using voting machines to elect Joe Biden. They deserve better than to have their complaints about the self-serving American political class displaced by the election-audit theatrics in Maricopa County, Ariz., which ended up yielding more votes for Joe Biden anyway. They deserve better than Lin Wood’s drawing little “Q’s” in the air…

This was a real disgrace, it led to real death — that of an unarmed Trump supporter. And it was caused by Donald Trump’s dishonesty. He abused the trust of his devoutest supporters. He assembled them to “stop the steal” of an election he must know he lost, that he must’ve known he was liable to lose as he was running in it. He endangered his vice president, other members of Congress, and his supporters to protect his vanity.