Displeasure over Kevin Roberts’ refusal to distance the Heritage Foundation from Tucker Carlson for offering neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes a platform has yielded something good: a boost to Mike Pence.

Mr. Roberts is the president of the half-century-old organization whose mission is to promote conservative public policies like free enterprise, limited government and a strong national defense.

And after Mr. Carlson invited the Holocaust-denying, misogynist anti-Semite Mr. Fuentes on his popular program and treated the bratty man-child with kid gloves, many conservatives reacted with understandable outrage. Mr. Roberts, though, chose to support Mr. Carlson, who, as it happens, seems to have himself fallen down a conspiracy-theory, Israel-slandering rabbit hole.

(In false modesty, I will refrain from dwelling on how my long-ago warnings about growing ugliness lurking on the American right, an assertion that disturbed some people, have proven accurate.)

In a healthy reaction, though, to the radicalism that has infected part of the conservative world, a number of Heritage Foundation personnel have chosen to bolt from the group and affiliate themselves instead with Advancing American Freedom (AAF), a group founded by former Vice President Pence in 2021 to advocate for classical conservative principles—in contradistinction, that is, to a good chunk of President Trump’s MAGA movement.

Mr. Pence famously, and laudably, refused to participate in Mr. Trump’s and his supporters’ attempt to subvert the democratic electoral process on January 6, 2021.

According to three people testifying before a Congressional committee under oath, Mr. Trump expressed support for hanging Mr. Pence for disobeying his demand to refuse to certify the election results. Although he escaped the gallows, Mr. Pence was effectively sidelined in the conservative movement and gained little traction in an attempt to run for president himself in 2024.

It will be a steep uphill trudge for the former vice president to shift American conservatism away from the current affection so many harbor for characters like Mr. Carlson. But it’s heartening all the same, and cause for relief, to note the defections from Heritage to AAF.
So far, 15 Heritage staffers, including three senior officials from the think tank’s legal, economic and data teams, are moving to the Pence group.

AAF began a $15 million fundraising campaign last month to cover the expenses of hiring the outgoing Heritage personnel and raised $13 million within two weeks.

One of the erstwhile Heritage senior officials, John Malcolm, announced that he is becoming the vice president of the Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law, a legal advocacy think tank that has been part of the Heritage Foundation but will now affiliate with the AAF.

The man for whom the institute was named, Ronald Reagan’s former attorney general Ed Meese, gave the institute’s move his blessing.

The president of AAF, Tim Chapman, served as chief of staff to the late Heritage cofounder Edwin J. Feulner and helped found its advocacy arm, Heritage Action. So his and Mr. Malcolm’s move from Heritage to Mr. Pence’s group is significant. And Mr. Chapman said that he expects AAF to be welcoming more staffers from the Heritage Foundation soon.

Mr. Pence, about as far from a rabble-rouser as can be imagined, has nevertheless not held back from criticizing the wild-eyed part of the MAGA crowd—or the Heritage Foundation, which he accused of “abandoning its principles.” He expressed chagrin over how the foundation had embraced isolationism and how “Heritage and some other voices and commentators have embraced big-government populism and have been willing to tolerate anti-Semitism.”

“AAF is honored to welcome these principled conservative scholars to the team,” Mr. Pence said said about the defectors. “They bring a wealth of experience, a love of country, and a deep commitment to the Constitution and Conservative Movement that will further the cause of liberty.”

Whether Mr. Pence and his group can become the dominant force within the conservative world isn’t predictable. Nor can we know whether the former vice president, who was mocked for his traditional family values will set his sights on a return to the White House in 2028.

But the country, to greatly understate things, could do worse.

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