Blow for Donald Trump: His former Vice President Mike Pence is calling for a change in the Republican Party. “Trump's wavering support for Ukraine has emboldened Russia. Conservatives have forgotten what they believe in”

“Conservatives believe that our rights come from God. Conservatives believe in the right to life. Conservatives believe in limited government and in the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution. Conservatives believe in standing with our allies and standing up to our enemies,” Mike Pence writes in an editorial calling on the Republican Party to respect its values ​​and stop being shaped by Donald Trump.

• Mike Pence's call comes amid Donald Trump's volatile relationship with his own party.
• After Trump shored up loyalists in recent elections and unseated “classic Republicans,” part of the party feels threatened by the president's power moves and the fact that Donald Trump's popularity among the electorate is declining, according to opinion polls.

Vice President Mike Pence hasn't always gotten along well with Trump, but he's never tried to publicly rally the Republican Party against the current president. But he did it on Friday, in an editorial published on the conservative website Free Press.

Pence, 66, has retired from active politics. He is a professor of political science and runs a conservative think-tank.

His article is called “Conservatives have forgotten what they believe in.” “Republicans are reshaping conservatism in Donald Trump's image — and not always in a positive way,” says Mike Pence.

He pays tribute to the conservative movement to contrast it with what is happening in the United States today.

What is conservatism?

Pence mentions Barry Goldwater, a former military man, senator, 1964 US presidential candidate and icon of the Republican Party. For many, Goldwater was the precursor to Reagan.

Goldwater, for example, offered one of the best definitions of conservatism ever written: “The conservative approach is nothing more or less than an attempt to apply the wisdom, experience, and revealed truths of the past to the problems of today,” says Pence.

Pence then recalls that Trump's first term, where he was also vice president, followed the tradition of the Republican Party.

About the successes of Trump's first term

“During his first term, President Donald Trump demonstrated what Republicans can accomplish when leaders stand firm on conservative principles and don't back down. Tax cuts have reinvigorated the economy. Deregulation has spurred economic growth, created jobs and boosted energy production,” Pence writes.

“Trump mobilized our military to defeat ISIS, prevented Iran from developing nuclear weapons, and exerted a force that blocked the aggressive ambitions of Russia and China. Although things did not end well between us, I will always be proud of the record of our administration,” said the former vice president of Donald Trump.

Pence criticizes Republicans who “rushed to align themselves with every aspect of Trump's agenda”

However, the story of the second term is viewed extremely differently by Mike Pence.

“In his second term, Trump has not always governed as a conservative. Instead of extending the tax cuts of his first term, he chose to complicate the tax code. He proposed sweeping tariffs on friends and foes alike, the largest peacetime tax hike in American history, and threatened a trade war.”

“His isolationism has reshaped his diplomacy, and Trump's wavering support for Ukraine has encouraged Russia to continue its brutal invasion of a Western ally.”

“To make matters worse, many Republicans rushed to align themselves with every aspect of Trump's agenda, even when it conflicted with traditional conservative beliefs that have served us well for decades,” Pence wrote.

Consequence? “Many Americans are confused about what it means to be conservative”

“The result is that many Americans are confused about what it means to be conservative. We need to rediscover and reaffirm the old principles and show how they can guide us,” Pence says.

“This is especially important for young people who have almost no living memory of a Republican president other than Trump,” he adds. And he says young people are confusing conservatism with “the forces of right-wing populism.”

Mike Pence concludes his position with a dramatic insight: “Reagan once warned that freedom is never more than a generation away from extinction — and we are now more than a generation away from his presidency.”