Recently, while being subjected to the inescapable torrent of political awfulness that is Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, a theory came to me. I believe Trump’s 2024 running mate, JD Vance, may have been chosen through indolence. Though I shudder even to have this imagery on my site, I must ask you to look at these two Trump yard signs, from 2016 and 2024 respectively:

The two designs are virtually identical. From one sign to the next, a grand total of two letters were changed, and the year was slapped on. Given Trump’s well-known habit of refusing to pay his bills, it’s likely they’d have trouble hiring designers. But by slotting in “Vance” to replace “Pence”, the team had a change so simple any idiot could update things. I’m sure they have plenty of those on staff.

If this were any other candidate, you could rightly say “That’s ridiculous. No one would select their vice presidential nominee based on how little effort it would be to update campaign-related imagery”. Here, though, you really can’t dismiss the possibility outright. After all, this is a group that’s reusing the same slogan from 2016, word for word. And even then, it was pilfered.

While searching for source imagery for this post—an unpleasant task, I assure you—I was reminded of this horrible logo from the 2016 Trump/Pence team:

At the time, the dearly departed John Dingell was one of many who pointed out the rather obscene nature of this grotesquery. However, no one guessed that it would accurately foretell exactly what Donald Trump would do to Mike Pence.

Anyhow, I really need a chaser for that double shot of awfulness. Let’s close it out with another yard sign, one which answers the question “Who should I vote for in 2024?”: