Senator JD Vance (Republican of Ohio), who has faced heavy criticism since being nominated as Donald Trump’s vice presidential candidate, is now trying to improve his image by visiting small businesses as part of his campaign, including a bakery/doughnut shop in Valdosta, Georgia.

But the visit did not go well. When Vance entered the store accompanied by secret service agents, one of the employees said she did not want to be filmed.

Vance later told NBC News: “I just felt terrible pity for this woman. We went in and there were 20 Secret Service agents. And there were 15 cameras and she obviously hadn’t been properly warned and she was terribly afraid, right? I just felt terrible pity for her.”

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In an article published August 28 in New York Magazine/Intelligencer, journalist Margaret Hartmann examines Vance’s efforts to blame his staff for the “incredibly unpleasant” visit.

“On the one hand, Vance’s team is certainly partly to blame,” Hartmann argues. “They brought him into an empty store where he couldn’t mingle with the other customers, apparently didn’t tell the staff they were coming, and didn’t give their candidate any instructions on what to order. On the other hand, it’s not the staff’s fault that every sentence that came out of Vance’s mouth was bizarre and unpleasant.”

According to Hartmann, Vance “acted like he had never ordered a doughnut in his life” when he asked an employee for “some sprinkles, some of those cinnamon rolls – just whatever makes sense.”

Vance, Hartmann said, also asked employees how long they had been working for the company and always answered “OK, good” without him asking.

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“Vance managed to express compassion for another human being with his comments to NBC about the bakery worker,” Hartmann writes. “Now all he needs is someone to explain to him that people don’t usually like it when leaders blame their mistakes on their subordinates. And it’s an especially dumb move when those employees are the only thing standing between you and another embarrassing viral video.”

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Read Margaret Hartmann’s full analysis for New York Magazine at this link.