Within the space of about three minutes on Wednesday night, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, Trump’s newly-anointed running mate, suggested that the Iraq invasion launched by a Republican administration in 2003 was a huge mistake (true), blamed it on Joe Biden (mostly false, with an asterisk) and then brandished his own patriotic credentials for enlisting in the Marine Corps in — hang on, let’s look it up — 2003 and serving for six months in, um, Iraq.

I was on the floor of the convention at that moment, inches away from Turning Point USA founder and Vance booster Charlie Kirk, and for a few seconds you could feel the bafflement spread through the crowd: So was Senator Hillbilly Elegy a true American hero for risking his life in a stupid war that was started by the Republican president before the one to whom he’s hitched his wagon, or was he, as his boss might put it, a “sucker,” not to mention a shameless hypocrite? How’s the vegan barbecue, anyway?

Oofah.