Conservatives--true conservatives, as in the Ronald Reagan brand--have a problem. The movement has been invaded by the "alt-right" (alternative right), a brand that is not conservative, but rather slogs through the mud of antisemitism and racism, staining all who support or refuse to denounce it.

This attempt to hijack conservatism by a radical fringe is not new. In the 1960s, Robert Welch and his John Birch Society (JBS) infiltrated the movement. It took the founder of the conservative publication National Review, William F. Buckley Jr., to denounce some of Welch's extreme views. When Welch claimed Dwight D. Eisenhower was a "dedicated, conscious agent of the communist conspiracy", it was the breaking point for Buckley, who had been reluctant to criticize Welch, largely because many JBS members contributed financially to his magazine.

Now comes a similar challenge for traditional conservatives and especially the evangelical wing of the Republican Party. On a recent podcast, former Fox News Channel host........

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