The overriding theme that unifies all branches of conservatism, both from politicians and citizens, is a desire to expend as little energy as possible in every given situation--morally, intellectually, Hell, even physically in most cases. Whatever is the easiest, most self-serving course of action is the one they'll take.

Actually, scratch that: Yes, they're extremely selfish, but they've also shown a consistent willingness to prioritize avoiding conflict over acting in their own self-interest.

Case in point: Republicans NEED to exorcise Trump from the party. If they don't, they will die. Period. And after January 6th, they were handed an opportunity to do so on a golden platter.

Everything was teed up for them: An already unpopular President who just lost reelection had just incited a riot that attacked the beating heart of our government and nearly got the Vice President fucking lynched. A majority of Americans backed impeachment, and since those Congressmen had just been reelected, so had they voted to impeach, they had plenty of time to put it behind them and focus on building their own narrative.

(Their constituents are very, very dumb, easily distracted, and have shown they'd vote for a goddamn pedophile (Roy Moore) over a Democrat. This would not be hard.

Instead, they were like "Fuck it, let's do nothing, vote to acquit, and pray Trump gets arrested before he has a chance to inflict lasting damage on the party. "

Welp.