This is the definition of chutzpah. I really try to stay out of these GOP intramural fights, but the biggest reason that the GOP is struggling electorally at the moment is not because they are pandering to "podcastistan" but because we are engaged in an extraordinarily unpopular war that Ben and his friends championed (I'm not making a judgement of the correctness or incorrectness of that war--just of its popularity-- and the massive unpopularity of the downstream effects of that war, especially higher gas prices-- particularly with swing voters.) THAT is what the numbers say, in about 100 different ways. Rather than be really f***ing quiet, as anyone with any sense would do in this situation, Ben thinks it's smart to double down and deflect blame to the most important person in Trump's circle that opposed this war, precisely because Ben doesn't trust Vance's views on another country in the Middle East that occupies an unhealthy amount of Ben's attention. Ben is too smart to go full Mark Levin, but if he doesn't understand that this sort of rhetoric and blame deflection is totally counterproductive in maintaining our coalition, he is going to eventually find that out the hard way.