MINOT, N.D. — Disgraced President Donald Trump summoned a horde of violent rioters to Washington, D.C., with lies about a stolen election.

During and after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6, Trump refused to lead, reportedly ignoring pleas for National Guard assistance (Vice President Mike Pence’s office has confirmed that he, not the president, ultimately made that call) and issuing only a half-hearted denunciation of the violence.

Yet to criticize Trump for these things is to get yourself called a communist, a RINO (Republican-in-name-only, for those of you not familiar with the pejorative), and worse by his followers.

I have been called all of these things in the days since the riot occurred, and it’s evidence of what the conservative movement has become for millions and millions of right-leaning Americans.

It’s about loyalty to Trump, not loyalty to principle.

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