When Vice-President J. D. Vance skipped this year’s 9/11 commemoration ceremony, in New York, and instead spent the day escorting Charlie Kirk’s casket from Utah to Arizona on Air Force Two, the decision seemed to make sense, both in terms of substance and in terms of spectacle. Kirk, of course, had just been murdered —a horrific act of political violence that set the country on edge. President Donald Trump, unlike his predecessor, has never shown much aptitude for serving as Mourner-in-Chief. “My condolences on the loss of your friend Charlie Kirk,” a reporter said to Trump, on the White House lawn. “How are you holding up?” The President responded, “I think very good. And, by the way, you see all the trucks? They just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House.” So it

See Full Page