Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has struggled on a wide variety of fronts, but there’s one question the Republican and his team have barely even tried to answer: Why have so many leading officials from the former president’s own team publicly condemned him? Why should Americans back a candidate who can’t even earn the support of those Trump handpicked to work side-by-side with him?

The Republican candidate, true to form, has largely relied on school-yard taunts and tiresome name-calling. Targeting his former White House chief of staff, Trump in recent days has condemned retired four-star Gen. John Kelly as a “total whack job,” a “nutjob,” and a “stone-cold loser.”

This was predictable, of course, but it doesn’t answer the underlying questions about the scope and scale of the condemnations the GOP candidate has received from those who worked closely with him.

As it turns out, Trump’s current running mate apparently has some thoughts on the matter. Politico reported:

In a contentious interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, vice presidential nominee JD Vance minimized former Trump officials’ warnings about fascism as mere policy differences.

To his credit, Tapper invested quite a bit of time on this point, and the Ohio Republican presented several possible ideas — all of which were incredibly unpersuasive.

“Why does John Kelly not support Donald Trump? It’s about policy,” the senator said. “It’s not about personality.”

As it turns out, we already know this was the opposite of the truth. In fact, Kelly, in his interview last week with The New York Times, explicitly said he often agrees with his former boss on policy matters. The retired general nevertheless condemned Trump’s fascism and positive comments about Adolf Hitler.

So, Vance tried a different talking point. “Do you know one reason why Kamala Harris doesn’t have as many people criticizing her? [It’s] because she doesn’t fire people who fail,” the Ohioan said, adding, “Donald Trump fires them. And I would much rather have the president who fires people who screw up.”

That’s wrong, too. Many of those who’ve either condemned Trump or withheld support for his candidacy — former Vice President Mike Pence, retired Gen. Mark Milley, former Defense Secretary James Mattis, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, et al. — weren’t fired. The idea that they’re “disgruntled“ former employees, lashing out at the boss who showed them the door, would be more persuasive if that had actually happened. But it didn’t.

But this line of inquiry culminated in one especially memorable exchange.

Tapper asked the GOP’s vice presidential nominee, “So, all those 10 people, including the former vice president, Mike Pence, all of these people have this horribly damaged worldview, and they’re all just going after Donald Trump because they want to send people into war? That’s really your argument?”

Vance replied, “Absolutely, that’s my argument.” He added, “All of the people, Jake, they came into office thinking that they could control Donald Trump.”

The host quickly interjected, asking, “Mike Pence thought he could control Donald Trump?”

“Yes, he did,” Vance replied, prompting Tapper to laugh out loud, which was the fully appropriate response given the absurdity of the underlying claim.

Look, I’m not unsympathetic. If I were in Vance’s shoes, I wouldn’t know how to answer these questions, either. It’s profoundly humiliating for Trump and his political operation that so many people who worked with the Republican at the White House now see him as dangerous to the nation’s future — a list that’s growing, by the way — creating a dynamic never before seen in American politics. Of course, it’s resulting in questions that are impossible to answer in a persuasive way.

But that didn’t make Vance’s answers any less pitiful.