WASHINGTON
— President Trump reignited his feud with the N.F.L. on Sunday by
telling Vice President Mike Pence to walk out of a game in his home
state of Indiana after nearly two dozen players from the visiting San
Francisco 49ers knelt during the playing of the national anthem.
Mr.
Pence lavishly documented his early departure in a series of tweets and
an official statement issued by his office. On Twitter, he declared,
“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.”
While
the vice president portrayed his decision as a gesture of patriotic
principle, it had the distinct appearance of a well-planned, if costly,
political stunt. He doubled back from a trip to the West Coast to take a
seat in the stands in Indianapolis, where the 49ers — the team most
associated with the N.F.L. protest movement against racial injustice —
were suiting up to play the Colts.
Shortly after Mr. Pence issued his statement, Mr. Trump said on Twitter,
“I asked @VP Pence to leave stadium if any players kneeled,
disrespecting our country. I am proud of him and @SecondLady Karen.”
For Mr. Trump, the vice president’s walkout keeps alive a dispute that has proved popular with his political base,
even if he has drawn criticism from the N.F.L. and some of its owners
for being divisive and politicizing professional sports. On Sunday, a
spokesman for the N.F.L., Joe Lockhart, declined to comment on Mr.
Pence’s statement.
While
politicians from both parties concoct situations for political gain,
some criticized Mr. Pence’s walkout as transparently premeditated. The
vice president did not take a pool reporter traveling with him into the
stadium; a member of Mr. Pence’s staff told the reporter, Vaughn
Hillyard, that the vice president might be leaving the game early.
“Manipulation
of faux patriotism took new turn today with VP Pence. Preplanned early
exit from Colts game after 49ers kneeled, then tweets,” Norman Ornstein,
a resident scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, wrote on Twitter.
Others
pointed out the expense involved: Mr. Pence flew to Indianapolis from
Las Vegas, where he had attended a memorial service for victims of last
Sunday’s mass shooting, and was immediately flying back to Los Angeles.
“After
all the scandals involving unnecessarily expensive travel by cabinet
secretaries, how much taxpayer money was wasted on this stunt?”
Representative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California, said in a tweet.
There
was little doubt, given the presence of the 49ers, that Mr. Pence would
be given an opportunity to make his political statement. The former
49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began the dispute over the national
anthem last year by taking a knee to highlight the plight of black
Americans, particularly the killing of black men by police officers.
Mr.
Kaepernick left the 49ers in March and has not been signed by any other
team — a situation seen by many as a blacklisting by other team owners.
But other 49ers have continued the protest in a show of solidarity with
their former teammate.
Last month, Mr. Trump seized on the dispute over Mr. Kaepernick, declaring at a rally in Alabama that any “son of a bitch” who refused to stand for the anthem should be “fired.” His comments led hundreds of players to protest during the anthem, though last weekend the furor appeared to be subsiding a bit.
The
White House seemed determined to whip it up again. In addition to Mr.
Pence’s statement and tweets, the press office released a photo of Mr.
Pence in a suit, standing with his hand over his heart for the playing
of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. He
was standing next to Maj. Gen. Courtney P. Carr, a veteran of the Iraq
war who now serves as adjutant general of the Indiana National Guard.
An
earlier tweet by the vice president, in which he said that he and his
wife, Karen Pence, were looking forward to the game, showed him wearing a
Colts cap and casual clothing. He said he was there to honor Peyton
Manning, the longtime Colts quarterback whose statue was unveiled in
Indianapolis this weekend, and who was set to have his number retired
into the team’s ring of honor at halftime.
The vice president’s office later said that the photo had actually been taken in 2014, when Mr. Pence was governor of Indiana.
In
the West Wing, officials privately said they believed that Mr. Pence
had sought the controversy, which is a favorite of the president’s and
which he had voiced his approval of. It came less than two weeks after
Mr. Pence’s chief of staff, Nick Ayers, told a group of Republican
donors that there might need to be a “purge” of the party if people did
not get behind the president.
Two
weeks ago, Mr. Trump had called for fans to walk out of stadiums if
players knelt. So Mr. Pence was doing what Mr. Trump had called for,
though few fans seem to have followed his call.
Mr.
Pence has found himself on the other side of this kind of protest.
Shortly after the election, he attended a Broadway performance of
“Hamilton,” the hit musical about the founding fathers, and received a polite lecture from a member of the cast, after the curtain call, on the need for the Trump administration to work on behalf of all Americans.
“We
truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American
values,” Brandon Victor Dixon, the actor playing Vice President Aaron
Burr, said from the stage.
Mr.
Pence seemed unperturbed, but Mr. Trump reacted angrily, saying the
cast had “harassed” the vice president-elect and owed him an apology.
In
the weeks since Mr. Trump complained about players kneeling during the
anthem, most have returned to standing, though some continue to kneel,
particularly on the 49ers. While the 49ers knelt, the Colts locked arms
as a team on Sunday.
In
Detroit, the Lions stood arm in arm, including two players who had
knelt the past two weeks. In New Jersey, the Giants defensive end
Olivier Vernon, who was in street clothes, knelt while the rest of his
team linked arms.
In
Miami, three members of the Dolphins — Kenny Stills, Julius Thomas and
Mike Thomas — stayed in the locker room while the rest of their team
stood on the sideline during the anthem.
The Dolphins’ owner, Stephen M. Ross, who has backed the players’ right to protest, appeared to be changing his stance. He told The Miami Herald
that while many players insisted that their protests were about raising
awareness of social injustice, the president had “changed that whole
paradigm of what protest is” by turning it into a proxy for respect for
the flag and support of the military.
Mr.
Kaepernick, meanwhile, has been working out privately in New Jersey in
hopes of finding a team willing to take a chance on him, according to a
CBS report.
Mr. Pence framed the issue as one of patriotism and respect.
“At
a time when so many Americans are inspiring our nation with their
courage, resolve and resilience, now, more than ever, we should rally
around our flag and everything that unites us,” he said in a statement.
“While everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I don’t think it’s
too much to ask N.F.L. players to respect the flag and our national
anthem.”
