Vice President JD Vance, weighing in on the racist, Hitler-praising, and other appalling comments in a chat group of the Young Republicans:

“The reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys,” Vance said 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.”

“Kids.” “Young boys.”

Looking at the figures involved in this scandal, Peter Giunta was old enough to serve as chief of staff to Republican New York Assemblyman Mike Reilly, at least until he was dismissed. Joseph Maligno was an employee of the New York State Unified Court System, until he, too, was dismissed. Samuel Douglass is a Vermont state senator.

These are grown men in their mid-20s.

If you’re old enough to serve in significant government roles like that, then you’re old enough to be held responsible for what you choose to say and type; you’re not a kid or young boy, as the vice president contends. This is lame excuse-making attempting to downplay the significance of a whole bunch of Republican staffers sounding like some hideous hybrid of David Duke and Andrew “Dice” Clay.

And yes, you have the First Amendment right to say terrible things; and your bosses have the right to say, “You are an embarrassment to this office. Pack up your desk and get out of here.”

I can remember when conservatives thought it was absurd that Obamacare allowed people to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans until age 26. The thinking was, by that point in your mid-20s, you’re a grown adult and should be buying your own health insurance. Who knew that by the year 2025, a Republican vice president would be inisting that a man in his mid-20s still qualifies as a “young boy.”