They didn't vote for conservative (pretending congressmen)
Conservatives never thought to punish the first President Bush either. Nope, they didn't stay home at all. (revising the facts doesn't make them true)
The conservatives did, if fact, vote Republican. The voter turnout was high. The problem wasn't that conservatives stayed home. The problem was that the vast middle without political affiliation voted Democrat almost exclusively.
They shouted their anger and then held their noses and voted Republican.
Conservatives aren't the problem. RINOS, who by definition, do not spread the conservative message, are the problem.