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In a party of hypocrites, Vice President JD Vance is in a league of his own. And that is quite an accomplishment in light of his competition, which includes House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, and every “Christian” supporting Donald Trump’s agenda.

Vance, however, is taking hypocrisy to another level. Perhaps that’s because of his lofty perch as vice president, or the ease with which he lies. Most likely, however, it is because of the smug indignation he displays when saying things that are either completely wrong or patently ridiculous, and his refusal to ever back down.

He is like the guy who preaches about the importance of personal responsibility, then gets behind the wheel of his car completely wasted, and ends up blaming the kid he hits for not paying attention before using a crosswalk.

Vance proved this again impressively on Wednesday, when he commented on a massive scandal currently embroiling the leaders of some Young Republicans groups.

Earlier this week, Politico unveiled details of a group chat in which some of these Young Republicans had voiced some racist, antisemitic, and otherwise abhorrent views.

Now, there are some things in politics that should be really easy.

For example, when you are asked to comment on a group chat in which one of the participants says, “I love Hitler,” or in which people discuss sending others to the gas chamber, then, at the very least, you should condemn that language.

And, to their credit, that is what several Republican groups and officials did.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) issued a strongly worded statement, and Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (R) stated that the “vile, racist, bigoted, and antisemitic dialogue that has been reported is deeply disturbing” and that “those involved should resign from their roles immediately and leave the Republican party – including Vermont State Senator Sam Douglass.”

Not Vance, who had a different take on things.

“The reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys,” Vance said while appearing on The Charlie Kirk Show. “They tell edgy, offensive jokes. That’s what kids do. And I really don’t want us to grow up in a country where a kid telling a stupid joke — telling a very offensive, stupid joke — is cause to ruin their lives.”

Let’s break that down.

First of all, these were not “kids” or “young boys.” While the group is open to Republicans from the ages of 18 to 40, the eleven chat participants were all a bit older, which makes sense because they were already in leadership positions.

The eight of them for which ages are available were between 24 and 35 years old.

In other words, his mischaracterization of the chat participants is an example of the effortless and smug lying we referenced above.

Then comes the blatant hypocrisy.

Because Vance has made it quite clear that he does want to live in a country where “a kid telling a stupid joke — telling a very offensive, stupid joke — is cause to ruin their lives” — at least if that kid said something the vice president didn’t like.

For example, after Kirk was assassinated, Vance urged his supporters to engage in online vigilantism.

“When you see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder, call them out,” he said last month during an appearance on the same podcast. “And hell, call their employer.”

That certainly sounds as though he wants to ruin people’s lives for saying something that is very offensive and stupid.

It is also worth noting that many of the social media users who were outed for “celebrating” Kirk’s death were simply pointing out that the right-wing activist held some views they found abhorrent.

And then there is Jay Jones, the Democratic candidate for attorney general in Virginia.

Jones sent his own repugnant messages to a Republican (!) colleague.

Because we aren’t hypocrites, we said those comments disqualify him from serving as attorney general and chastised Democrats for not calling on Jones to drop out.

Vance, however, is a hypocrite, which is why he felt we are dealing with two completely different situations here.

“This is far worse than anything said in a college group chat, and the guy who said it could become the AG of Virginia,” he stated on Tuesday. “I refuse to join the pearl clutching when powerful people call for political violence.”

Vance might view himself as an arbiter of what is a “call for political violence” and what is a “joke,” but the fact that he mischaracterizes both cases (one by calling it a college chat, and the other by attributing something to Jones that he didn’t say) shows that he is acting in extremely bad faith.

These aren’t Republican “college kids.” Several of them worked in politics and were holding leadership positions already.

It should also be noted that Jones, when he made his comments, wasn’t older than some of the participants in the GOP chat.

That’s no excuse for his vile text messages, but Vance’s mischaracterization of the circumstances does highlight his own hypocrisy.

It shouldn’t be difficult to condemn the kind of language that Jones and the Young Republicans used. The fact that the vice president of the United States can’t get himself to do that, and instead resorts to mischaracterizations and attacks, shows that he is a lot more intent on scoring points and further dividing the country than anything else.