It all started when Mike Pence, Putin's puppet's puppet, made a grandiose show of how he got up and left the Indianapolis Colts-San Francisco 49ers game because he was just so distraught over players kneeling during the anthem:
I left today's Colts game because @POTUS and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem.
— Vice President Pence (@VP) October 8, 2017
Apparently he forgot his pearl necklace and fainting couch so he just had to leave.
Then Trump went and stole his puppet's thunder by taking credit for Pence's third-rate antic:
I asked @VP Pence to leave stadium if any players kneeled, disrespecting our country. I am proud of him and @SecondLady Karen.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2017
But then, the wheels really started falling off their campaign wagon when it turned out to be just a pre-planned political stunt:
FLAG: Was Pence leaving Colts game a political stunt? Reporters were told to stay in van bc "there may be an early departure from the game."
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) October 8, 2017
But wait! There's more. There's always more.
Not only was this a cheap pre-planned political stunt, it was a poorly conceived and poorly executed political stunt, when it turned out that Pence was tweeting reused pictures from three years ago.
You want more? We got more!
This political stunt, using the US Flag, the National Anthem and veterans for their own political gain, cost taxpayers more than $250,000!. The plane ride alone cost more than $85,000.
How fiscally responsible in the face of a growing scandal of the Trump cabinet using expensive flights for personal gain.
The stunt even has conservatives like Bill Kristol shaking their heads in disbelief and questioning their patriotism:
Pence is so 100% patriotic he left the game, but he's fine doing a fundraiser Monday for (among others) Putin-apologist Dana Rohrabacher?
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) October 8, 2017
The obvious answer is that this stunt had nothing to do with patriotism. This had to deal with trying to usurp the real message of the Take A Knee movement, which was to bring attention to the horrendous way that African Americans are treated in today's society.
It's not surprising that Trumppence want to smother that. During the Tiki-Nazi rally, Pence said nothing while Trump called the Nazis "some very fine people." And neither one had a word for their somewhat lame re-emergence last night either.
If this stunt was just to throw red meat at the Trumpkins, then they can claim success. If it was for anything else, it was an abject failure because it just made them look like daycare toddlers running amok and needing a time-out. They didn't hurt anyone but themselves.
And to add salt to the wound, Pence missed one helluva nail-biter game in which the Colts won with less than two minutes left in overtime with a 51-yard field goal. As a Packer fan, I find that simply unfathomable and unforgivable.
