'Flailing and ranting' Trump might be setting J.D. Vance up as 'fall guy': columnist

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) may be part of a set-up if one USA Today columnist is correct.

Humorist Rex Huppke confessed his thought was nothing more than a "liberal conspiracy theory," but he wondered if Donald Trump was setting up Vance to blame for his loss.

Vance is following Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) around the country from event to event. The Democrats' crowds are massive, with one Michigan rally exceeding capacity by so much that they had to move the venue to accommodate the 50,000 RSVPs.

"Vance, because he suuuuucks (sic), will invariably draw small crowds and get overrun by the Democratic event. It’s just dumb," wrote Huppke. "And Vance is such a bad retail politician that he'll keep making himself look like a doink, as he did yesterday stalking Harris' jet on the Wisconsin tarmac."

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Those on the ground observed that Vance struggled to attract more supporters for an event at a police station than media and staffers.

Huppke thinks it's part of Trump's plan as he relaxes in his Palm Beach country club instead of campaigning.

"I think Trump is doing this intentionally to make Vance look weak so he can start blaming the polling shift on the weirdo VP his weirdo son told him to pick," the columnist continued. "Trump will either say it out loud or have his assorted mopes start a whisper campaign about Vance being a problem."

At the very least, he said, it will give Trump the fall guy he needs, "since Trump is wholly incapable of ever admitting any problem is his fault."

"Or, possibly, he’ll try to make a switch to shake things up. Pair up with RFK Jr.? Add a nutball like Mike Flynn to the ticket?" Huppke wondered.

The larger point, he explained, is that there is no way that Trump isn't furious with Vance, and regretting his decision.

The only event that Trump is doing this week is in "deep-red Montana," Huppke pointed out. Harris and Walz, by contrast, are all over the country.

Read the full thread here.