Pence joins Trump in political fake news about what NFL players are protesting

Vice President Mike Pence joined President Donald Trump in his "fake news" story about what the NFL players are protesting when they kneel during the pre-game playing of the national anthem.

Pence attended the Sunday game between the Indianapolis Colts and the San Francisco 49ers.  As the national anthem began, several of the players silently and quietly knelt.   Pence and his entourage walked out.

And shortly afterward Pence tweeted:
   "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."

Let's clarify the history here, because Trump and his enabler Pence have distorted the whole thing -- and it can only be for political purposes -- and therefore shameful and unpresidential.

Last season, the 49ths' Colin Kaepernick began an act of protest by kneeling during the pregame National Anthem and flag-raising.  What Kaepernick was protesting, as he so clearly stated publicly in the media, was police brutality and racial injustice towards black Americans.

There was no uncertainty, no ambiguity in his message.   It was loud and clear.   President Trump may not have been the first to distort the protest, but he quickly picked it up and amplified it with his twitter and TV fake news, claiming that he was showing disrespect for our flag -- and later he expanded it to include the false claim that it was disrespect for our brave military.

The kneeling protest spread to other players, who either were kneeling in support of Kaepernick or for the same cause.   This season it has expanded to not only players but to managers and many players who lock arms in solidarity.

Since when is kneeling a sign of disrespect, anyway?   It is traditionally the very opposite:   one kneels before a king or in prayer.

But Trump saw it as a way to help shore up his poll numbers by shaking the "patriotism" tambourine.   He even tweeted insults, calling the players "sons of bitches."   Trump upped the ante by asking Pence, in advance, to leave the game if any players knelt.

They did, and Pence walked out -- and sent the requisite tweet with the fake news that they were disrespecting  "our soldiers, our flag, or our national anthem."

Wrong.  It started as a protest of police brutality and racial injustice.  That's what the protester said.   Why does he not have ownership of what his protest was about?   What right does the president have to say it's really something else?   And then, I believe, the kneeling and locked-arms solidarity have now turned into a protest of Trump himself and of his distorting and politicizing the protest, thereby repeating the brutality and injustice.

Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) called it for what it is:  a stunt to make a point.   Pence was in Las Vegas, visiting families and victims of the shooting.   He flew to Indianapolis for the game -- knowing the players would kneel and he would have to walk out -- and then he got back on his plane to fly to California.

So how was this not a political stunt -- and an expensive one at that, given the high cost for Air Force Two to fly from Las Vegas to Indianapolis and then back to California, instead of simply going from Las Vegas to California.

Ralph

[based in part on Igor Bobic's article on HuffPost]