Former President Donald Trump has decided to endorse Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance who’s running for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, and that has one group of conservatives in the state hopping mad, Newsweek reports.

Nonprofit group Ohio Value Voters announced in a statement that Trump’s endorsement of Vance was a “terrible decision,” adding it “can only be attributed to very poor advice from people around the former president.”

The group is calling for a boycott of Trump’s upcoming rally Saturday in Delaware County, Ohio. For those who do attend, the organization is pushing people to “make your voices heard,” by telling Trump that Vance is “wrong” for the state when the ex-president introduces the candidate.

“Booing is entirely appropriate!” read the group’s statement.

Donald Trump Jr., who has joined Vance on the campaign stage, and like his father, supports him, noted in a statement to Newsweek that “the MAGA movement is strongly united behind my father’s endorsement of J.D. Vance, which you can see by the surge he’s seen in the polls since the endorsement.”

Then he attacked Josh Mandel, who has been endorsed by the “faith-based” group.

“It’s unfortunate that career politician Josh Mandel is pushing his supporters, some of whom are on the dole, to boycott a Trump rally. Very not MAGA of him!” Trump Jr. said.

But you can be certain that Mandel is no dream either. Ohio Value Voters president John Stover offers this glowing praise: “Ohioans have witnessed Josh Mandel embrace Judeo-Christian values over 15 years. Josh will continue the fight for our family values, the unborn, school choice, against radical indoctrination in the classroom, and our First Amendment rights as Ohio’s next senator.”

So in other words, he’s a nightmare for true progressives. As for Vance, he’s no prize either. He’s bigoted and Atlantic Monthly’s Tom Nichols cites Preet Bharara, in the quote below.

“My friend Preet Bharara, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, tried to describe Vance recently and came up with ‘pathetic loser poser fake jerk,’ but that is a lot of words. To distill the essence of Vance as a public speaker, the word that enters my mind is an anatomical reference beginning with the letter a.“

I may move to Ohio just to vote against this pathetic loser poser fake jerk @JDVance1 https://t.co/XX6EzpjImy

— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) July 11, 2021

I have now developed a new appreciation for Preet Bharara.

As for Trump, he’s jumped on the Vance bandwagon having apparently forgiven him for his former “never Trump” stance, and Ohio Value Voters, with their endorsement of Mandel, have said Vance is “wrong” for Ohio.

To send their point home, the group included a video showing several of Vance’s previous anti-Trump remarks, including one in which he says “I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy.”

“Vance cannot be trusted to stand upon principals when he practices ‘situational politics,'” Stover said.

“In 2016 and 2017, Vance led all others with his derogatory comments against Trump,” Stover maintained. “Now he claims to be 100 percent behind our former President. We read in God’s word, in the book of James 1:8, ‘A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

The group backed up its support for Mandel and urged Ohioans to cast their votes for him.

“Josh Mandel will serve our state with conservative principles and defend our constitutional rights,” it said.

Trump has acknowledged Vance’s previous remarks but said he believes he is the candidate who’s likeliest to defeat his Democratic opponent.

“Like some others, J.D. Vance may have said some not-so-great things about me in the past, but he gets it now, and I have seen that in spades. He is our best chance for victory in what could be a very tough race,” he said in an April 15 statement endorsing Vance.

And then it was time for some overblown blather (because it just wouldn’t be Trump without that.)

“It is time for the entire MAGA movement, the greatest in the history of our country (I did say overblown, now didn’t I?), to unite behind J.D.’s campaign because, unlike so many other pretenders and wannabes, he will put America first. In other words, J.D. Vance has my Complete and Total Endorsement. He will not let you down. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” the statement blathered in conclusion.

45: It is time for the entire MAGA movement, the greatest in the history of our Country, to unite behind J.D.’s campaign … he will put America First. In other words, J.D. Vance has my Complete and Total Endorsement. He will not let you down. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/zGFuAbLxnx

— Taylor Budowich (@TayFromCA) April 15, 2022

Vance, of course. is flattered by Trump’s support.

“He was an incredible fighter for hard working Americans in the White House, he will be again, and I will fight for the America First Agenda in the Senate,” he said.

All of which makes me glad I don’t live in Ohio.