Ed Kilgore: “President Donald Trump has famously and repeatedly asked his followers to ‘pretend I’m on the ballot’ this year in an effort to boost base turnout, especially in the red states where Republicans are struggling to mitigate midterm losses. He knows, of course, that his name will never actually be on a ballot again. But some other Republican’s name will head up the GOP ticket in 2028, and that election cycle will begin on November 4 no matter what happens on November 3. Up until now, the betting favorite for the GOP nomination has been Trump’s protege, Vice President J.D. Vance.”“But the brouhaha in Vance’s home state of Ohio over Vivek Ramaswamy’s nasty ad using Amy Acton’s disreputable mom to smear her makes you wonder: Is J.D. Vance on the ballot this year — and could failure keep him off the ballot two years from now?”