Why can't a vertex of a $d$-dimensional polytope be in fewer than $d$ edges?

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This is motivated by the definition of simple polytopes: if all vertices of a $d$-dimensional convex polytope $P$ are in exactly $d$ edges (i.e. $1$-dimensional faces of $P$), then $P$ is simple.

I struggle to show that no vertex of $P$ can be in fewer than $d$ edges. Clearly, if this would be the case for some vertex $v$, the (translated) cone generated by $v$ and its adjacent vertices would have a lower dimension than $d$.

So if I can only show that the cone contains $P$, I would be done. That appears obvious but I've spent some time struggling with no luck. I feel I am missing something obvious.

Edited to add: I use "polytope" to mean the convex hull of finitely many points in some Euclidean space. And, for the sake of completeness, when I speak of $P$ being $d$-dimensional, I mean that its affine hull is $d$-dimensional, not the ambient space.

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Any vertex figure of a $d$-polytope happens to be a $(d-1)$-polytope. The smallest known $(d-1)$-polytope is a $(d-1)$-simplex, which has exactly $d$ vertices. As those vertices in turn represent the edges of that $d$-polytope, which emanate from the vertex of consideration, you are done.

--- rk