Vance, Harris, and a Flubbing Beauty Contestant

Upton, now a 35-year-old mother of two who has posted conservative memes, wild claims of voting fraud and Students for Trump material, did not see his joke in a positive light. “It’s a shame that 17 years later this is still being brought up. Regardless of political beliefs, one thing I do know is that social media and online bullying needs to stop,” she said on X—then deleted her account shortly afterwards.

Caitlin Upton (listed as 5'10") was a Miss Teen USA (Trump owned the pageant from 1996 to 2015) flubbed an answer about maps in 2007. She was the subject of ridicule. I'll grant that I thought the answer was really stupid. 

(“Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can’t locate the US on a world map. Why do you think this is?” Aimee Teegarden of Friday Night Lights asked the question.) 

Still. She was eighteen. She froze while answering a question. It's like when someone gives a stupid answer on Family Feud. And, sometimes, when you start saying something stupid (to be blunt), you continue to ramble. It's best, after being human about it, to have some empathy. Or, empathy first, if possible.

Anyway, why is this whole thing -- which is "more than 17 years old" to quote a label when I looked up an article on the matter -- relevant again? Yes. James David Vance is being an asshole again:

JD Vance posted a video of Upton’s humiliation with the caption, “BREAKING: I have gotten ahold of the full Kamala Harris CNN interview.”

So topical, James. The coverage includes a notice (did not recall reading this) that Caitlyn revealed that she was so upset at the reaction to the original flub that she had thoughts of suicide. 

National embarrassment is horrible. Again, some empathy, even for the latest subject of ridicule ... at least, if they are just guilty of goofing up. If they did something really wrong, they deserve more shame.  

When asked about the joke:

Vance expressed sympathy but did not apologize, stating, “I’m not going to apologize for posting a joke, but I wish the best for Caitlin and hope she’s doing well.”

Slate discussed why Vance is so bad at telling jokes. Jokes for him are a way to express bitterness. He has problems "reading the room." Shades of McCarthyite in The Best Man, he lacks a certain general empathy.

Upton herself found that she still had issues with the general public. As noted in the opening quote, she has been a Trump supporter and not just back in the day when he ran the pageant. People reminded her.

She took down her Twitter/X account. I think it is appropriate to tell the whole story here so did lead with both parts of the opening quote.  

This does not justify Vance's comment. It was a crude, sexist attack -- par for the course -- against the first major Harris/Vance joint media interview. On a lesser level, besides again shaming a teenage girl, it used an outdated meme that is one more level of stupidity.

(The interview overall appears to have generally been a success with nothing too earth-shattering said.) 

A long time ago, if not as long ago as the map flub, I thought up "six simple rules," leading with not being a dick. It's hard when that is a basic part of your personality.  I'll have some empathy for Vance, but darn, he should be nowhere near being vice president. 

And, Trump has had his own rambling flubs, but he's no teenager. I don't think I want Upton in office either. She's an adult now and should know better. 

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Note: An article discussing Trump's bouncing around regarding the Florida abortion measure was telling. 

Multiple Republicans, including strongly anti-abortion people, both tried to convince themselves "deep down" that he was right on the issue or justified voting for him. Talking about human nature ... not surprising.