My conservative friends are insisting that the Black Lives Matter demonstrations after the death of George Floyd are morally equivalent to the mob that invaded the U.S. Capitol.

They believe that by equating the two, changes to the current system as well as the punishment of President Trump will be avoided.

Of course, there is no excuse, nor should there be tolerance for violence, no matter where it comes from or who incites it. Our political system, social peace, as well as our culture are based on that principle.

Nor is there any doubt that liberals often exaggerate their support of demonstrators to such an extent that they lose their legitimacy.

Nevertheless, this strategy is wrong – that is, saying that one side is behaving or reacting in the same way as the other side did previously.

In this case, the two events cannot be compared. There is no moral equivalence between a protest, even a violent one, and an insurrection incited by a sitting president.

In this particular case, we are talking about the occupation and vandalization of the U.S. Capitol and threats to ‘hang’ the Vice President of the country and the Speaker of the House, if they were found.

Here we are talking about the death of six people, including two police officers. The second police officer died by suicide after responding to the pro-Trump riot a few days after the event.

Look at the photos and videos. They are disgusting. They are unacceptable.

The future of the conservatives will depend on the settling of accounts – understanding what happened and taking responsibility for the events and their consequences. They will also need to unequivocally condemn the actions, instead of trying to soften impressions.

And, above all, their future will depend on the distances they keep from Trump.

They tolerated – for a much longer period of time than they should have – his unacceptable acts, which would have been severely denounced if someone else had done them.

Some conservatives, such as Senator Ted Cruz, put their personal political interests above those of the Republican Party and the country at critical moments.

But now these massive historical events leave no room for political games.

There is little time to waste if the conservatives want to spare their reputation.

It's time to do what Republican leaders did in the Watergate era: they visited Richard Nixon and told him he had to resign immediately.

And that is what happened.