None of this is surprising coming from Mandel. At the outset, he established himself as the buffoon of this race, and he’s played the part very well ever since. Yet Mandel’s juvenile clownings notwithstanding, he is only the second-worst candidate in this race after Vance. Despite briefly coming off as the adult in the room, the author of the highly acclaimed Hillbilly Elegy has debased himself to a degree that even Mandel can’t match, engaging in the most vitriolic trolling and trafficking in pernicious ideas.

One of the original Never Trumpers, Vance has transitioned from a supporter of genuine efforts to provide conservative solutions to the problems facing working people to embracing the most vile elements of our politics. He now supports Marxist wealth confiscation schemes, denies Ukraine’s right to self-determination, and has sought the endorsement of disgraced Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who recently spoke at the white supremacist AFPAC Conference.

If elected, Vance will advance the cause of “national conservatism,” an incoherent ideology that heralds “the nation” while dismissing American exceptionalism and deriding the country’s role in the world. The natcons seem to embrace libertarian talking points on foreign “adventurism” while simultaneously seeking to extinguish our nation’s dynamism through statism.